The Submarine VOL 8 NO 2.. June 2013 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
EDITORIAL Some time ago I mentioned to Mr Watts that we might do an issue based on the artistic talent we have amongst us—very very quickly he seized upon thee idea and in almost no time a list of contributors, both staff and pupils, had been commissioned, and when the time came there was the work, ready to go. I had forgotten that artists are doers and makers, who dream in their own time. To make art is a primary imary impulse in all of us. It is based on sight, one of the most important of the five senses.. Children C love to paint and make things. In this regard Picasso is often quoted: ‘All All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up’. He is referring to a child’s lack of fear,, lack of constraint, and even lack of judgement in the final result— —it is the freedom of making, the spontaneity that is important. This vital visual creative force gets quickly diluted in all but the most committed. But what a tale they have to tell, those who keep at it. Above all, art teaches us how to look. Most of us are merely casual lookers, a one-glance glance people. But an artist studies form and line, colour and texture, volume and dimension. They express the visual world in their own terms, and like all creative people, seek their own voice—or rather, vision. In turn, art deserves serious looking at,, though all too often, because it appears so immediately accessible, we find ourselves being dismissive or judgemental. Yes, art does repay serious looking, a careful quartering of the piece. Only then do we come to appreciate the balance between chance and intention, and receive the thrill of the physical reality of the work that a human hand and eye have created, be it yesterday or a thousand nd years ago. ago But art also teaches us to look through,, to look beyond. It captures something essential beyond shape or Top: Columban Gothic 2013, Katie Stewart and form or colour. If we look properly at art we can carry away Freddie Morris (Katie Stewart, Instagram). with us into the actual world a new way of looking, a new Below: American Gothic by Grant Wood, 1930 insight. TMcC Librarian 1.