Inner West Courier
29-Jun-2010
Don't throw art on canvas
Rashell Habib
YOUNG people's education will suffer
if visual arts is no longer a stand-alone
subject on the national curriculum, an
Inner West lecturer warns.
Karen Maras, a senior education
lecturer at the Australian Catholic
University in Strathfield, is con-
cerned about an initial advice paper
released by the Federal Government
last month.
She said visual arts was being left
behind in the national curriculum
which would mould visual arts, mu-
sic, dance, drama and media studies
into one mandatory field from kin-
dergarten to Year 8. This would see
two hours a week spent on all five
The Australian Catholic University's lecturer Karen Maras with Cutting Edge by student Clare Walker
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subjects.
"When I started teaching in 1987
it was very much about me, myself,
my experience and how I respond to
things," Ms Maras said.
"Now it's about developing a point
of view, looking at making work for
audiences, developing intentions as
artists. Students are learning a lot of
skills balanced with learning how to
think as artists and critics."
Ms Maras said the proposed curric-
ulum would see the quality of visual
arts education go backwards.
She said art was not just about cre-
ating pretty pictures but served as
a form of social commentary and
worked as a visual history for future
generations.
i
"If you don't have artists then we
run the risk of losing that social con-
sciousness and our ability to see our
world in different ways," she said.
"The Federal Government is saying
to us that we just do the same things
as music, dance and drama," she said.
"I challenge anyone to try to get me
to sing a song."
She said if the new national curric-
ulum was adopted, children would
be robbed of learning the skills and
techniques that allowed for varied
points of views.
"If we don't get the right time with
students and the right curriculum,
you have to wonder where the artists
of the future will come from."
Ref: 72900779