LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS (WO)MEN...

(Pear Trees in July by Moira Jarvis)

Let us now praise famous men...Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing...The Apocrypha 44. 2,5

Very nice, but I’m not sure where that leaves the South London Women Artists...

Now there’s a name to conjure with – some people would imagine well-bred and well-heeled ladies in four by fours with children called Hecuba and Amphytrion, others would think of women, looking rather as if they had just had a hard day clearing out an attic, with a tee shirt bearing the legend “Save the Stag Beetle”.

Well, our resident painter, Moira Jarvis, fits neither stereotype, not I suspect do any other members of the SLWA – and I am sure would just sigh at such prehistoric views.
So let’s get the “women” part over with first.

“About Us” on their website says: “ South London Women Artists was launched by the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery in June 2008. It offers a website on which women artists living or working south of the river can post a profile about their work”.

There’s no doubt that until very recently, an artist who was female would have been described as a “woman artist”. Thirty years ago and more Linda Nochlin did a noted study of the status of women in the visual arts, starting with the question, "Why have there been no great women artists?". Her work prompted Barbara Ehrlich White, in 1974. to point out the ways in which for the art establishment women artists were invisible (unless they were gentlewomen, leisure-time watercolourists). Twenty years later it was still necessary to create a Coalition of Women's Art Organizations, and to hold a major a conference of women artists in New York City.

Moira tells me that , with the possible exception of the major galleries and commercial venues (the latter, as far as I can see being typically gathering places for very rich men to acquire more status symbols at stratospheric prices, while men, with plummy accents and a haughty disdain for hairdressers or schoolteachers, speak in a language which it would take an MI5 computer to decode) – with those possible exceptions, the situation has now changed greatly. Even so, John MeWewen wrote recently in a commentary on the work of Paula Rego that the adverse criticism of Rego's pictures has come exclusively from men. (Here though, the causes are more subtle: He makes the speculation that a comment of Rego’s gives an explanation: “Feelings almost too dark to speak of. I think women accept their feelings more than men. They're more open about them, they talk more about them with each other. A man will say: 'Everything's fine' when it isn't."

But to the SLWA. They state that their “Exhibitions bring the work of SLWA to the wider community and increase public awareness of art produced by women....The idea for SLWA came from a lecture series on Women Artists which Dulwich Picture Gallery ran in June 2008. Few people can name women artists from before the 19th century since their role as professional women was strictly limited” Happily “Today women artists have achieved equal prominence with men. SLWA was created to celebrate this and to give prominence to women artists living or working in the Gallery area”.

So from now on I’ll just speak of “artists”.

Two things about these artists impress me.

Above all there is the sheer range and quality of what they do. You can see Moira’s work on this site. But compare and contrast this picture by Katiushka Borges:

This one by Everliina Hartikainen:

and this one by Sally Elizabeth Ward: And if you like something more traditional , this one by Helen Sivak-Berhercz:

I stress that the latter three I picked at random – but there are plenty more of that quality.

I’m afraid that I can’t offer comment. I am very ignorant about art, and can only say what I like. (This is due to the “teaching” of my art master at secondary school, who I later realised was a failed English watercolourist, who would have done better to work in a bank – at least he wouldn’t have had such an awful effect on the education of children. I still shudder if asked to draw something).

But I can say go to the website, and feast your eyes:

http://www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk/

The other thing I like about the SLWA is the sheer energy they have. The arts remain a daunting area to work in – far too many good people seeking too few opportunities. But they have just got on with the job, made a forum, created a wonderful website and created outlets. This year, the Dulwich Festival, nest year, the Bankside Gallery !

The other point of today’s blog is to give a plug for our own Moira Jarvis. Her studio is in Cannizarro Park, in Wimbledon. She and the other artists who work there are having an Open Weekend, this coming weekend September 26-7 from 11 till l6 each day. It’s a beautiful park and so would make a very pleasant trip.

Cannizarro is on the west side of Wimbledon Common. If you don’t have a car, there are train, tram and Tube links to Wimbledon, but you may wish to reduce the length of your walk after that by taking the 93, 200 or 493 bus to Wimbledon Village. To find it on a map site, the postcode is SW19 9UE.

You can see one of Moira's paintings at the top of today's blog. For others, just visit othere pges on this website.

It’s standard practice to ask artists to talk about their work, though they don’t all like to do so. So there is a full interview with Moira on the SLWA website. Here is one extract, relevant to our current postings:

Interviewer: Why are you so interested in trees?

Moira: I’m seduced by them! I run life-drawing workshops and feel that there’s quite a lot of correlation between drawing figures and drawing trees – both are organic, and both are always moving and changing. There are similar problems to deal with and the basic structures are cylinders. Trees are always affected by the elements – such as the wind – and tend to be at the most wonderful angles – I’m interested in the way they grow.

In the October update of this site we’ll have a new picture by her, with a special musical composition to listen to while you look at it.

To end we’ll have a modern version of the quotation I started with:

Let us now praise lively and talented women...Such as paint gorgeous pictures and create exciting art from all manner of materials. (apocryphal !)

MY YOUNGEST STUDENT...

is aged five months. Well, not really. The student is her mother, Rachel. She came for lessons about eighteen months ago, and one time, as she left, said she had met an interesting man...She then vanished for months. Then one day she got back in touch, to say that the young man had been so interesting that they had got together and were now the proud parents of Maya, a beautiful little girl (parents always say that – well, they would, wouldn’t they, but in fact it’s true). So she would like to get back to playing her guitar. However, there was a problem of child care, so could she bring Maya. I’ll try anything (well, most things) once, so I said yes.

On the day Rachel arrived, looking very happy, with Maya, in her buggy, looking dozy at the end of a nice sleep.

As the father of three, I knew what was needed, so let Rachel settle Maya, who was a little uncertain about this strange man who didn’t look at all like her father, but seemed to get on well with her mother.

We talked a bit about Rachel’s news, the adoring grandparents (who weren’t doing the babysitting, as one pair live in Australia and the other pair in New Zealand). Then we talked about what Rachel wanted to do guitar-wise, and picked a track on a compilation she had made for me. She had done this one before but wanted to start with something she knew. Rachel then took the guitar and tried to recall what she had done before.

But, of course, we are forgetting Maya, who decided that she was bored with sitting in a crummy old buggy. So we agreed that Maya would sit with me, while I watched Rachel play and advised.

For a few minutes this worked. Then it was clear that Rachel should get into another piece. So I “pass the parcel” back to Rachel, so that I can go to the CD player, listen to the track, decide on the main features to be learned, then play it again to point out to Rachel what I intend to do. I then play the first phrases we are going to learn.

Time to put down the guitar next to Rachel, take Maya, cuddle her and say nice words etc, between giving Rachel instructions. These are on the lines of “Play a chord of C. Strum 4 in a bar. We’ll try this with the recording in a minute (remember Rachel is holding the guitar, and I am holding her daughter). Now I want to teach the phrase I showed you. Put your first finger, on string 5 at fret 1...”

Now presumably because Maya is an intelligent girl, but she isn’t being allowed to play, she starts to get restless. We think that perhaps she needs Mum for a minute. Rachel puts down the guitar and comes to get Maya, at which point she realises that her darling girl has expressed her opinion about this new man in the time-honoured manner favoured by babies. Is it all right if she changes her ? I fully appreciate the problem, having had to deal with it many times myself, so I offer use of bathroom, and ask if she needs anything. I am delighted to observe that, though Rachel is new to the business, she is wonderfully organised (she has a bag with a changing mat etc) and has an ease of manner and competence which not only achieves the task brilliantly, but helps explain why Maya is such a happy little girl.

It was clear that Rachel was getting into the guitar tasks I was giving, and that she can be left to practice at home what we have done so far. So while she enjoys having Maya on her lap, I demonstrate what we are going to do next, do it again while I talk it through, and write down the relevant information.

Time for me to take Maya, who has decided that this old boy may look a bit weird compared to her handsome Dad, but can’t be too bad, because it means her Mum can play the guitar to her, which she does at home. Also, being relieved of her burden, she can look around this room which is full of strange things and stranger noises.

Rachel gets on well, because my written instructions are very clear, though my writing, as ever, needs an expert in Chinese to decipher it. However, just as she is getting into it, Maya decides that time is getting on (it’s about 4pm and teatime) so her mind moves to that other permanent interest of babies. She starts to turn toward me, and nuzzle up to me, and, as I have noted this lack of discrimination in babies for the first few months, I wonder whether to say “Sorry, wrong type!”, but hesitate to do so, as I don’t know Rachel that well. However, with her calm and quietly assured manner, she asks if it will be OK to feed Maya. I have no problem with this, as all my children were breast-fed, as were various nephews and nieces. (I was appalled to read in our local paper last week a letter ranting against Mums who fed their babies in public, comparing it to “fornicating or urinating publicly”).

This is a time for calm, so I answer a couple of guitar queries from Rachel, and make the decision not to overload her with Part 2 of the piece, but otherwise we talk about her new life, how she has been able to find other Mums in the same position close by, and so on.

Maya is now happy to go into her buggy to have a little rest after her exertions, while Rachel recaps on what we have done, and we discuss the next moves. Then Rachel sets off into the world again to get onto the Tube system (difficult enough with a buggy) before the Rush Hour.

[This article will be issued on my teaching website in mid-October, with comments on the teaching methodology aimed at teachers and trainee teachers].