The Decorated School Workshop 25 June 2011

Right, Patricia Tew's family in front of her St Nicholas mural.

Below, pupils talking about the murals.

Right Jo Sellam, Stephen Novy & Andrew Saint.

Below Lunch time with mural as backdrop.

The first open seminar/workshop of The Decorated School Research Network was hold on Saturday 25 June, 2011 at Templewood School, Pentley Park, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

Templewood School, as a setting for the workshop, is a good example of aesthetic and educational co-operation that the Decorated School Research Network is investigating. Hertfordshire was well known after WWII for its progressive building programme of new primary schools. Sir John Newsom, Chief Education Officer & C H Aslin (the very first) Chief Architect of Hertfordshire left a fantastic legacy of enlightened children-centric schools. Each new school had an allowance in the build budget for its own unique artwork to be carried out at the finish of construction. Templewood, constructed in 1949-50, had three wonderful murals painted by Patricia Tew, an artist who had recently finished her degree at The Slade. Along with the murals, the bright & bold colour scheme for the school walls was very carefully chosen. The original 1950 school must have been wonderful to see.

Our day proved to be relaxed, friendly and fascinating. After coffee & introductions by Project Leader, Dr Catherine Burke, Dr Jeremy Howard gave a highly interesting talk entitled "Painted, sculpted, stitched, tiled, metallic, glazed and landscaped schools (1870-2012)".

After a buffet lunch, Templewood School parent, Soo Hitchin, gave a short talk on Patricia Tew and the painting of the Templewood Murals. This was followed by an open discussion in front of each of the three murals. Two sons & a wife, one daughter& one grandaughter of Patricia's were present. From this wonderful discussion many interesting insights into the murals were discussed and gained. Andrew Saint (English Heritage Architectural Historian) told us the anecdote of Cleve Barr, Templewood project architect, with who Patricia had worked on the murals. He had been born Bert Baby, but due to teasing at school, had changed his name to Cleve Barr.

After listening to Templewood pupils talk about the murals, we listened to Professor Roy Kozlovsky's excellent & insightful talk "Colourism at the Hertfordshire School". After this rich and rewarding day, we finished with a visit to Swallow Dell school (nearby) to see the stunning Julian Trevelyan and Mary Fedden Mural. The day had also been expertly filmed by Emily Blickem.

Templewood school seminar

Link to Peter Medway's blog for commentary on the day.

Mosaic on the move at Ditton Fields Nursery School, Cambridge

A few weeks ago, we reported its pending demolition, but action by City Councillor Margaret Wright and by Gill October, former Headteacher of the Nursery and now Head of The Fields Children's Centre has led to preservation of substantial sections. Cambridge City Council estates services have sympathetically cooperated in the challenging technical task of rescuing these and moving them to a new site.

Community activists will now collaborate in seeing how
these precious remnants of social and educational history of the local area can best be used to enhance the environment for a new generation of young children.

Research meanwhile has enabled members of the Decorated School project team to contact the former headteacher who commissioned the work, the artist who designed it, and local residents who helped construct it, or who recall the mural as part of the landscape of their own nursery schooling. We hope to record and evaluate the process of conception, creation, reception and transformation, drawing on personal memory, oral testimony and photographic documentation.

See news item in Cambridge News, July 1st 2011

Canterbury Tales and the East Neuk at the Waid Academy

The Waid Academy in the coastal town of Anstruther in Fife was originally built in 1886. Having become a state secondary school with pupils drawn not only from Anstruther, but also from across the East Neuk and its burghs of Crail, Pittenweem, St Monans and Elie, the Waid was extended several times in the twentieth century, not least in 1909, 1930 and 1955. Following the last extension the new Principal Teacher of Art at the Waid, James Selbie (1920-84), directed the creation of a ceramic tile mural of the Canterbury Tales (an interpretation of William Blake's 1800 painting, held by Glasgow Museums) in Room 15, the classroom of Alastair Leslie, teacher of English. The work was completed c. 1961. Guided by both Selbie and Leslie several senior school students helped with the work, with Margaret Thomson (née Anderson) largely responsible for the figures. Selbie graduated from Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, in 1947 and received a post-diploma in painting from Gray's in 1948. This suggests he would have been influenced/taught by Gray's head of painting, Robert Sivell, whose major work of mid-century was a remarkable set of murals for Aberdeen University student union. After graduation Selbie had taught art at Elgin Academy and become a puppeteer.
While still at the Waid, Selbie, together with his new colleague Frances Wilson and several schoolchildren, created the tile and mosaic mural of the Five Burghs (of the East Neuk) in the school hall (completed 1967). It would seem that he was also responsible for the now severely damaged St Christopher mosaic mural on the 'boys'' staircase as well. In addition, he inspired Frances Wilson to continue the school mural tradition, she engaging several children in the seventies on the creation of an abstract, linear ceramic marinescape which she intended for an external wall of the school (but which was instead placed on a gable wall of the new Ladywalk care home in Anstruther).


Selbie moved to Inverness Royal Academy c. 1968. Portraits by Selbie are in the Fisheries Museums in Anstruther and Lossiemouth, as well as Inverness Art Gallery. Further information on him and his work would be very gratefully received! Selbie's murals at the Waid complement John Rhind's fine 'Passage through the Pillars of Hercules' relief (1886) in the tympanum above the main entrance.

Patricia Tew Mural Grange Junior School, Letchworth

Whilst searching through Hertfordshire County Archives I found that Patricia Tew had painted two more murals under John Newsom's 'Art for All' programme in new build schools schools from 1947-53. After over ten years of looking at the three at Templewood School Patricia Tew murals (where my children have attended) I was justifyably excited. (I have written about them below).

I visted the Grange Junior School to see the murals. Once again, the school was finished in 1952 and it was part of the enlightened Hertfordshire school building programme after WWII. All schools were built with children very much in mind. There are wonderful colour schemes on the walls, huge windows to maximise light, wide open spaces, corridors of light and colour and most of all, every school had an artwork sum included in the budget. Most of these artworks were carried out by newly qualified artists. John Newsom's plan had been to encourage young artists and to give them something to put on their c.v., rather than use established artists.

Sadly one of the murals "Ullyses" has been covered up over the years and its whereabouts in the building is not exactly known. The enthusiastic Head, Jonty Hall, hopes to carry out a search as to its whereabouts.

However, on turning the corner to see the one mural left is a real wow moment. The colours are amazing. (It having been covered by cabinets for some years has, no doubt, helped to preserve the colours from the ravages of time, wear & light). It is of a well known local story of The Giant of Weston. The tale is one of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. It has a biblical quality about the injustice of life. In the mural he has stolen bread from uniformed, rather furious looking bakers with sticks, furrowed brows and glorious striped stockings, to give to the poor of the village.

The giant is of golden colours and is the focal point of the mural. He is tall and slim with leaves for his attire and headdress, giving suggestions of a green man of old tales. He has a bow and arrows and a large bowl of beautifully shaped large stolen loaves. He throws them out to the waiting hands. His face has a knowing smile.

As with the Templewood Patricia Tew Murals, the background colour is a stunning element. The turquoise colour has a luminescant quality to it. There are stalks of green leaves all over the picture. It is approximately 8 feet x 9 feet and was completed and signed by Miss Tew in 1952.

Because the mural has been covered up for some years, it is being looked at in earnest, almost like new, once again by staff and pupils. It is being very much enjoyed. The power of art here is absolute. It enriches what is already a light, colourful and hard working school.

JULIAN TREVLYAN & MARY FEDDEN MURAL - SWALLOW DELL SCHOOL, WELWYN GARDEN CITY, HERTFORDSHIRE

As part of the same programme of school building in Hertfordshire after WWII, Swallow Dell School was completed in 1952, 2 years after Templewood School. It was planned and designed by the same team, headed by the then County Architect, C H Aslin. The school is very reminiscent of Templewood with its concrete cladding panels, flat roofs, large windows and a very spacious site. It no longer has its Crittall windows, but otherwise remains as it was. The school today is airy and colourful with a great atmosphere. As part of the art for schools & for all, Swallow Dell School was given the mural.

Artists Julian Trevelyan (1910-88) and Mary Fedden (1915-) painted the bold, stunning very large mural for the school hall, (the heart of any school). Even at almost 60 years old, on first view, the harbour scene mural is breathtaking and must have been a large undertaking. The colours are vibrant, the mural feels spacious. The harbour looks idyllic and relaxed. The line of the harbour wall curves through the centre - drawing you in to the middle of the painting. There are fishing boats, fishermen, ravenous seagulls, fishermen in groups talking over their nets, a fisherman with his catch watched by a hopeful tabby cat, diners in a cafe, a postman with his van and the village around the harbour. In the far left corner a black cat climbs the wall in an attempt to get his paws on a caged parrot.

The mural is a great example of Trevelyan & Fedden's work. Both painted other murals together for schools in the 1950s. Trevelyan was one of the founders of the School Prints Ltd scheme where famous artists gave paintings to be lithographed and given to schools. These two artists were at the vanguard of the idea for art in schools to become a natural occurence.

Both became RA's, Trevelyan only the year before he died. Mary Fedden continues to paint & exhibit as an Royal Academician.

The children who attend Swallow Dell School are very familiar with the mural and are often encouraged to turn around (from facing the stage the other end of the hall) and observe the mural. It is a much loved and admired part of their school.

Ninomiya Kinjiro at Kyoto

Ninomiya Kinjiro (Sontoku) at the door of

Kyoto Municipal Museum School History

Stone sculptures like this were not uncommon in or in front of Japanese schools, especially elementary schools during 1930s and 1940s. Typically these statues portray Ninomiya Kinjiro (Ninomiya Sontoku) (1787-1856), showing him as a boy reading a book while walking and carrying firewood on his back. Ninomiya was self-taught and didn’t attend school, as in his lifetime there were no schools for children of farmers, but he unusually rose into the Samurai class later in life from his peasant origins (see biography below). With the introduction of a national education system in 1872 in Japan, he became a symbol and a model for school children of virtues such as diligence, obedience, dignity, and honesty. Ninomiya is represented reading and studying in every spare moment at work.

A song celebrating the life of ‘Ninomiya Kinjiro’ was introduced by the Ministry of Education as a compulsory feature of the elementary school curriculum in 1911 (Meiji era, year 44), for children of Year 2 (age 7). This was to instil moral sense and moral attitude of children and was later reinforced by the introduction of Ninomiya’s statutes into elementary schools. These qualities also fed into the cultivation of military discipline during the Second World War.

After the Second World War most of Ninomiya’s statues were removed as an obstacle to democratic education, but in the 1960s in some primary schools Ninomiya’s statue reappeared in bronze, together with other classic sculptures such as Rodin’s Le Penseur in bronze, sometimes with school mottos represented by statues. Often they were donated by successful graduates and their function could be described as a kind of hidden curriculum.

In my childhood in the late 1950s, Ninomiya’s song was used by girls informally as a ‘rubber ball-play with song’ (Temari uta). But now most Japanese, except for the generation over sixty, know neither the song nor the game, although Ninomiya’s name and reputation might be familiar to adults.

One such statue was taken to the USA as war loot by a naval officer after the Battle of Okinawa in 1946 and presented to Rollins College, a small private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida, where the President promised to keep the statue in the main lobby of the college's administration building forever. So this potent image from one culture was adopted by an educational institution in a distant country; such was its effect that 50 years later a request by Okinawa Prefecture for its return was initially refused, but finally conceded on the offer of a replica so that the original now stands in front of Shogaku Junior and Senior High School in Okinawa.

In response to concern about moral attitudes of young Japanese in the present day, sculptures of Ninomiya in bronze or gold are sometimes donated by local community leaders of an older generation to stand in public places such as stations and crossroads

Questions we might ask:

What impact did this image have on students, teachers and the community?

How should we understand its pedagogic and decorative functions?

What equivalent images and symbols are found in other countries and cultures?

More images of Ninomiya Sontoku shrines and sculptures can be found at:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8C%E5%AE%AE%E5%B0%8A%E5%BE%B3

http://homepage3.nifty.com/koyaji/me/nink/nink.htm

A modern example stands in a public space in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles:

http://www.themarkeworld.com/2010/11/ninomiya-kinjiro/

Ninomiya Kinjiro (Ninomiya Sontoku, 1787-1856) (the ‘peasant sage’) was a prominent 19th century Japanese agricultural leader born to a peasant family who became a great landowner and public administrator. Poor, and orphaned at age 16, he was self-educated whilst working in agriculture. He underwent severe hardship in his youth, suffering the loss of the family farmlands to flood. But by the age of 24 he had revived his family's fortunes, and at 36 was commissioned by his domain lord to aid in the restoration of a family fiefdom (now Ninomiya Village, Tochigi Prefecture). He prevailed at this task for ten years, thereafter widely sought for advice on regional administration, development and economic management. At age 57 he was raised to the position of attendant to the Tokugawa shogun family, a great honour for someone of his lowly origin. He was awarded posthumous honours by the emperor.

The name Sontoku was given to him for his accomplishment. His success as an administrator led to his being entrusted with one of Shogunate's estate, which was He developed a philosophy from his own experience and from strands of Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism, in which he saw agriculture as the highest form of human activity (this was put into written form by others). Ninomiya was a moral leader who believed in the value of hard work and the dignity of manual labour and was able to instil in peasants pride in their own occupations and the urge to follow his example of working to improve general welfare. In the long run his ideas may have helped spur a desire for a more egalitarian social order.

Sontoku died in 1856 at the age of seventy. In the Meiji era, shrines were established across Japan to worship his spirit. Shinto shrines called Hōtoku Ninomiya Jinja were built in 1894 in Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and in 1897 in Imaichi City, Tochigi Prefecture as the first prefectural shrines dedicated to Sontoku's memory. Later, more than ten others were established from Hokkaido to Okinawa. In Japan, he is still a symbol of hard work and perseverance.

A head and shoulders portrait of Ninomiya Sontoku as an adult appeared on the obverse of a 1 Yen bank note issued March, 1946 (Showa era, year 21) by Bank of Japan (NIPPON GINKO)

http://www2m.biglobe.ne.jp/%257eZenTech/money/banknote/en_p11_japan.htm

Further information on the life of Ninomiya can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninomiya_Sontoku

http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=523

Yoko Yamasaki

Mukogawa Women’s University