Milton Moon
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It
was the German-born British economist Dr E F Schumacher who coined the
term 'Small is beautiful' and no better expression could be employed to
describe the South Australian School of Art, as I knew it, in the late
1960s to the mid 1970s. One could add the word 'exclusive' and it was
that very 'exclusivity' that ensured a high position in the rankings of
Australian Art Schools of that time.
I can still recall lines of students, holding folios of their work, awaiting their turn to be interviewed, as they hopefully (and sometimes, apprehensively) sought acceptance. Entry each year was small, and a high standard was expected of those who undertook their Common Course year.
But this 'exclusiveness' and 'strictness of expectation' didn't lessen the common humanity of the school, which, in my opinion, was largely due to the generous human decency of the school Principal, Douglas Roberts, and which seemed to 'rub-off' on the other members of staff.
In the Pottery Department (which was a 'pottery' department, and not one of pseudo sculpture) the main emphasis of the curriculum was on 'workshop method'. In some ways the emphasis was one of a workshop-apprenticeship nature rather than the school being a resource for idiosyncratic individual expression. The development of hand-skills was regarded as the most important thing to be learned. Students shared the task of loading and firing kilns, and other general workshop tasks common to all potteries and it was perhaps in this working together and sharing the workshop burden that their own human qualities were developed.
It must have worked because the drop-out rate was so negligible as to be insignificant and the work was of a very high standard.
I was pleased to be a small formative part of the school of that time. It is true: Small IS beautiful.
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In 2008, Milton Moon was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the
University of South Australia.
More information
(The Graduate, September 2008)