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6: Identified Resources for the
Internationalisation of Art School Curricula [Next Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Contents] |
Overview
Methodology
Results of Art School Survey—Staff
Results of Student Surveys
Overall Analysis of Results of Student Surveys
Arts Bodies
Other Identified Resources: Books, Slides,
Suppliers
The earlier chapters of this report have investigated the position of non-Western art in Art Theory/History programs and Drawing programs offered by art schools throughout Australia. They have also looked at the pedagogical issues raised.
This chapter is in two parts. The first part deals with the results of questionnaires which were sent out to staff and students of university art schools as described in the methodology section of the Introduction. The second part of the chapter is provides some details of identified resources which may prove useful to those teachers and academics who wish to place greater emphasis on Asian art and artists in their teaching program. It is necessary to point out that the list is not a comprehensive survey but an indication of the resources available27. The chapter will, however, show that there exists a substantial amount of resource material which may be accessed. Lecturers may find some useful information in the Appendices.
The research was developed in four major ways. In addition to the schools survey (Questionnaire 1) and the student surveys (Questionnaires 2 to 5—refer to ‘Methodology’ in the Introduction), the following was undertaken.
Results of Art School Survey—Staff
The questionnaire sent out to Australian art schools (Questionnaire 1) included the following question:
Q5 Does your department or library subscribe to art journals which cover the Asian region?
Of the total of 30 art schools targeted for this questionnaire there was no response to this question from four schools. Of the 26 who responded, four art schools indicated that they did not subscibe to any of these journals and 11 art schools indicated that they subscribed to three or more of the journals, Art Asia Pacific being the most popular. Five other art schools subscribed to two or more of the journals.
A comment from one art school indicated that, while the department had some of the journals, staff were also subscribers in a private capacity.
The schools were also asked to indicate any other relevant journals to which their Department or library subscribed.
A full list of journals to which schools subscribe may be found in Appendix 12.
Australian Art Theory/History Students' Perceptions of Support Material
Questionnaire 3 (for Art Theory/History students, see Appendix 6) asked the following questions.
Q5 Have your reading lists and/or bibliographies for Art Theory / History included references to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)
The following numbers are based on responses from 234 Australian students, including one Australian student from an Asian background.
Of these students, 222 answered the question, with 108 students (49%) saying ‘yes’ and 114 (51%) saying ‘no’.
They were then asked the following question.
Q6 How well does your institution provide access to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)?
On the basis of these figures, 64 per cent of students responding rated access at average or below average.
A fairly high 14 per cent gave no response to this question or said they ‘did not know’ and a particularly high number of students at two major art schools fall into this category—59 per cent of the total responses from one of these schools and 46 per cent of the total responses from the other.
At another major art school 76 per cent of the student responses rated the level of access at average or below average.
These figures would seem to indicate that students generally either have restricted access to Asian material or are quite unaware of its existence.
The next question asked students were the material was held.
Q6 [contd] Where is this material held (e.g. library, art school, other collections etc.)?
Seventy-seven (33%) students nominated the library and 97 (42%) students nominated the University library as their source of reference material. It might be construed that these are, in most cases, one and the same, making this source by far the most significant point of reference for the majority of students. Twenty-two (9%) students nominated their art school as a resource for material and other nominations were as follows: other libraries (6), Lecturer’s own collection (5), other University libraries (4), other collections (3), Art Gallery (2), slide library (1), computers etc.(1), ‘compiled textbook’ (1).
Seven students (1%) did not complete the section and five students made comments such as ‘don’t know’, ‘I have not tried to access this material so I really cannot say’, ‘I haven’t looked into it’.
The second part of Question 6 asked students about the type of material available.
Q6 [contd] What type of material is it (e.g. books, journals, audio-visual materials etc.)?
Most students nominated books (167 nominations) , also journals (120 nominations), followed by audiovisual (72), slides (29), newspapers, works and artwork (2), catalogues (1), CDs (1), videos (1), tapes (1), electronic data bases (1) and ‘written’ (1).
Students from the University of South Australia cited the widest range of resource material including most of the above as well as prints, posters and student handouts/readers.
Overall 10 students (4%), all from one major university art school, failed to complete this section and four others (2%) from one other art school said ‘don’t know’.
Other comments were as follows:
‘...University is not fond of providing material for Arts and English students. We don’t make them money.’
‘I have not tried to access this material so I really cannot say.’
‘I don’t really know every aspect of our library, and I’ve never specifically gone looking out of interest for Asian art.’
It is worth commenting on the comparative lack of resources within electronic media. Given the current climate of interest in the possibilities of multi-media material it is an area which may be worth further investigation and development.
Asian Art Theory/History Students' Perceptions of Support Material
Questionnaire 2 (for Asian Art Theory/History students) asked the following questions.
Q5 Have your reading lists and/or bibliographies for Art Theory /History included references to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)
The following numbers are based on responses from 28 Asian students, 14 of whom (50%) answered ‘yes’ and 14 (50%) ‘no’.
Q6 How well does your institution provide access to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)?
Twenty students (71% of the total response ) rated access to contemporary Asian material at average and below average.
Q6 [contd] Where is this material held (e.g. library, art school, other collections etc.)?
Twenty-four students (86%) nominated the library as their main source of reference material.
Four students (14%) nominated their art school as a resource for material and other nominations were as follows: other libraries (2), Art Gallery (1), ‘textbook, and a few in school library’(1).
Two (7%) students did not complete the section.
Q6 [contd] What type of material is it (e.g. books, journals, audio-visual materials etc.)?
Most students nominated books (23 nominations) , journals (14 nominations), followed by audio-visual (6), slides (2), CD ROM (1), Internet (1) and newspapers (1).
Two (7%) students did not complete the section.
Again the lack of electronic media and material should be noted.
Australian Drawing Students’ Perceptions of Support Material
Questionnaire 4 (for Australian Drawing students) asked the following questions.
Q4 Have your reading lists and / or bibliographies for Drawing included references to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)
The following numbers are based on responses from 152 Australian students. Of these, 137 students (90%) answered the question. Thirty-five of these students (26%) answered ‘yes’ and 102 (75%) said ‘no’. The remainder either did not complete the question or gave other responses, such as ‘sometimes’.
Q5 How well does your institution provide access to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)?
Eighty-three students (55% of the total reponse) rated access at average or above average access to material.
Q5 [contd] Where is this material held (e.g. library, art school, other collections etc.)?
The vast majority of Australian students nominated the library as their main source of reference material—100 nominations (66% of the students) as against 14 (9% of the students) for their art school.
Other nominations were: other collections (3), visitors (1), lecturer’s private collection (1), galleries (1), other university libraries (1), theory/tutorial lectures (1) and locale-specific nominations such as National Gallery of Victoria collection.
Students at the Australian National University offered the widest range of reference sources, citing some of the above and including the Menzies Library, Art School library, Asian Studies Building Library, National Gallery of Australia, Asian Embassies, National Library of Australia, visiting artists and exhibitions.
Twenty-six (17%) students did not complete this section and 7 (5%) made comments such as:
‘Don’t know, have never looked.’
‘Don’t want access.’
‘I’m not really aware of the material offered at [the student's institution]. The library is a fairly poor resource for any type of art.’
‘I think it would be in the library but I have minimal knowledge and exposure to them. No-one has told me so I don’t really know.’
‘There has been no need to research Asian art hence no genuine knowledge of the resources.’
Q5 [contd] What type of material is it (e.g. books, journals, audio-visual materials etc.)?
Most students nominated books (92 nominations), journals (75), followed by audiovisual (25), slides, catalogues, CD ROM, photos, artworks, Asian students (this one from the University of Melbourne.)
Again the Australian National University students made a wide variety of nominations including most of the above and also objects, crafts, textiles, clothing, vessels, jewellery.
Overall 34 students (22%) failed to complete this section and 2 others (1%) said ‘Unsure’ and ‘Haven’t really looked at it. Not too sure really.
Drawing: Australian Students from an Asian background
These students also answered Questionnaire 4.
Q4 Have your reading lists and/or bibliographies for Drawing included references to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)
The following numbers are based on responses from four students. Three answered ‘yes’ (75%) and one other did not complete the question.
Q5 How well does your institution provide access to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)?
Two students (50%) rated access at average, and one student said ‘no access’.
Q5 [contd] Where is this material held (e.g. library, art school, other collections etc.)?
All the students nominated the library as their source of reference material and one student nominated the student’s own collection.
Q5 [contd] What type of material is it (e.g. books, journals, audio-visual materials etc.)?
All students nominated books and one student nominated journals.
Asian Drawing Students’ Perceptions of Support Material
These results were compiled from responses to Questionnaire 3 (Asian students: Drawing).
Q5 Have your reading lists and / or bibliographies for Drawing included references to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)
The following numbers are based on responses from 21 Asian students. Only 11 students completed the question, of whom eight (73%) said ‘yes’ and three (27%) said ‘no’.
Q6 How well does your institution provide access to contemporary Asian material (books, journals, slide collections etc.)?
The high rate of non-completion of the above two questions, 48 per cent in each case, may indicate a lack of understanding by the students of the questions themselves or a lack of awareness of the resources that may exist. However, 91 per cent of Asian students who responded rated access at average or below average access to contemporary Asian material.
Q6 [contd] Where is this material held (e.g. library, art school, other collections etc.)?
Nearly all the Asian students who answered this question nominated the library as their only source of reference material (10 nominations out of the 11 who answered the question). Other nominations were: art school , galleries and lecturer’s collection.
Q6 [contd] What type of material is it (e.g. books, journals, audio-visual materials etc.)?
Most students nominated books (10 nominations), also journals (3) and video tapes (1).
Overall Analysis of Results of Student Surveys
The results indicate that Art Theory/History students, both Australian and Asian, are fairly evenly divided over the question as to whether material such as their reading lists included references to contemporary Asian material, while the majority of Australian Drawing students (102 students out of 152) are quite clear that they are not provided with such references. It is difficult to draw any conclusions about the Asian Drawing students. Of those who answered the question the majority seem to feel that there are references to such material in their reading lists (8 out of 21) but a significant number (10 out of 21) gave no response.
The majority of Art Theory/History students, both Australian and Asian, appear to believe that access to contemporary Asian material is provided only at an average or below average level. Asian Drawing students appear to concur with this belief while Australian Drawing students rate such access at an average or above average level.
The vast majority of students see reference resources as the books and journals in their library, while a much smaller number of students are aware of other sources of material. Asian students seem particularly unaware of potential opportunities for resource material, reflecting some of the difficulties they may be experiencing in trying to get the best out of their educational experience in Australia. Indeed, many Australian students seem unaware of the same potential opportunities. Whether the resources are lacking or whether students are not being informed of their existence is difficult to determine exactly. Perhaps some university staff are also unclear about the resources that may exist and where to find them.
Recommendation 22:
That students be given much more guidance in terms of knowledge of where to look for material and what sort of material may be useful to them.
Recommendation 23:
That an awareness of the value of electronic material as a resource be encouraged.
Recommendation 24:
That a greater development of electronic material for availability as a resource base be investigated and encouraged.
The second part of this chapter gives an indication of the range of possible resources available and where they may be accessed. It is stressed again that this is only a starting point for further development as the information from responding institutions is not necessarily equally complete in the provision of details.
It was decided to contact a variety of bodies associated with the arts, including State art galleries, funding bodies and Asialink.
State Art Galleries
Correspondence was sent to the State art galleries in the capital city of each Australian State. These included:
Information was requested towards the compilation of a resource data base on Asian art to support the internationalisation of art school curricula. Each institution was asked to provide an indication of the range of resources that they had available in any of the following areas, books, exhibition catalogues, slides and videos, collections of Asian art, conferences, journals, theses on Asian art, artists’ residencies in Asia, art galleries and museums that have exhibited Asian art and Visiting artist and Lecture programs.
A general outline of resources is given here. For more detailed analysis refer to the Appendices28.
The National Gallery of Australia reported that its Asian Collection is small but with ‘particular strengths and some very impressive highlights’ (see Appendix 10C). It was pointed out that a strong relationship has developed between the National Gallery and the Shanghai Museum through a series of long term loans from the Chinese institution. Mention was also made of the fact that the Japanese collection is expanding in preparation for a major Japanese exhibition in 1998. The Gallery also holds an internationally famous collection of well over 1000 Southeast Asian textiles.
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory holds a Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture Collection which ‘commenced in 1970 with the acquisition of a small group of wooden Balinese figurines and some significant field acquisitions of East Indonesian earthenware’ (see Appendix) The Museum and Art Gallery holds material from countries such as Sumatra, Borneo and Sarawak and recently a major collection of West Timorese textiles has been accumulated. The Museum and Art Gallery has acquired the ‘Hot Wax collection including works made by two leading Indonesian textile artists whose Yogyakarta studio was the 1994 location for a batik workshop by Aboriginal women artists from the remote central Australian community of Utopia’ (see Appendix 10B).
The Museum also holds the following:
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery ‘exhibits and holds collections of historical and contemporary Asian material in the areas of visual art, craft and decorative arts. The Museum acquires, researches and exhibits examples of material culture from Asian communities represented in Tasmania, in particular the Hmong People of Southeast Asia.
The collections include prints, textile, costume, costume accessories, ceramics, carvings and dolls. Countries represented include Japan, China, South Korea and Thailand amongst others.’
The Art Gallery of Western Australia ‘bears a commitment to regularly presenting Asian art exhibitions; for example, a minimum of one per annum to 18 months...The Acquisitions Policy also identifies Asian art as a target area for growth in the contemporary area. Particular countries within Asia have been prioritised. The Collection currently includes holdings of Japanese and Thai ceramics, Japanese lacquer work, ivory prints and contemporary fibre works, Indian and Cambodian sculpture.’ (See Appendix 10A)
The Queensland Art Gallery holds the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art which ‘was the first major series of exhibitions in the world to link the contemporary art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia’. The Gallery maintains a library which ‘collects resources on the contemporary art of Asia and the Pacific to support the Gallery’s Collection and exhibitions programs, including the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’.
‘The Asia-Pacific research collection within the Library includes: books, exhibition catalogues, journals, slides and files of ephemeral information (such as exhibition invitations and curriculum vitaes) on individual artists.’
‘The Library also maintains the Asia-Pacific Artists’ Database (currently 1500-plus records) which provides basic information on individual artists in the region.’ (See Appendix 10E)
The Art Gallery of NSW and the Art Gallery of South Australia. To date no information has been received from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria or the Art Gallery of South Australia, although some information about the latter’s collection may be obtained via a South Australian home page on the Internet.
Arts Funding Bodies
Correspondence was sent to a number of arts funding bodies as follows:
Information was requested towards the development of a resource data base on Asian art to support the internationalisation of art school curricula. It was hoped the information would include lists of government bodies that fund or have funded visiting artists and lecture programs and artists’ residencies in Asia and also information about relevant conferences.
The response was quite varied:
Ministry for the Arts, New South Wales indicated that they do not fund anything directly but work through other institutions such as the Biennale of Sydney, Artspace in Sydney and, occasionally, Asialink.
Arts Tasmania indicated that they run no specific programs on a regular basis within Tasmania but do involve themselves with events as specific needs arise (i.e. in response to personal requests etc).
Northern Territory Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Northern Territory advised that the Northern Territory University Fine Art Department will be hosting the Asian Pacific Confederation for Arts Education Conference in Darwin in early July 1997.
The Northern Territory Office of the Arts and Cultural Affairs is in the early stages of cultural exchange policy development. For further information contact Elizabeth O’Shea on (08) 8924 4404.
Arts Victoria organises International Cultural Exchange Program Residencies and guest lecturers. They also advised that within Victoria they were aware of ‘a number of government agencies and non-government organisations which have funded and/or facilitated visiting artist and lecture programs and artists residencies in Asia.’ They provided details of these organisations which included Australian Network for Art and Technology, Melbourne University Museum of Art, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, The British Council and Dancehouse. (For futher details see Appendix 11)
To date no information has been received from:
Australia Council
Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism &
Territories: Arts, Film & Cultural Heritage Division,
Australian Capital Territory
Department for the Arts, Western Australia
Asialink
This organisation was established in 1990 as a joint initiative of the Myer Foundation and the Asian Studies Council. In 1991 it became a Centre of the University of Melbourne. It runs programs in education, public affairs and the arts. The visual arts program
facilitates greater exchange of cultural material and information between Australia and Asian countries, with a focus on contemporary work travelling from Australia. It offers opportunities for Australians to enlarge their experience of working in Asia, encouraging personal contacts, on-going communication and further projects...It also enables people to see more art and craft made by artists working now in our region...Programs for individual artists are advertised nationally and staff are happy to answer questions on them. Asialink invites partnerships with organisations in Australia, as well as responding to suggestions, for other programs.
The program encourages and facilitates exhibitions of contemporary Australian art and craft in Asian countries, where possible in partnership with organisations and individuals in Asia. Exchanges with Asian organisations increasingly are being supported.
The focus is on South, Southeast and North Asia generally, but usually with the larger countries of this region where issues of contemporary art and craft are more accepted.
The program of supporting Australian artist and craftspeople to spend time in various Asian cities, attached to and art institution, was begun by the Visual Arts/Crafts Board in 1988, and passed to Asialink to administer and develop in 1991.
Each residency offers a specific amount of funding and initial contacts in each place. Then it is up to the individual to make as much of the experience as possible...The program is advertised each year, around August and the closing date is in October. Residencies have taken place in China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, India and Vietnam.
Asialink organises occasional seminars and forums on art—Australia/Asia issues and is involved in publications and public events discussing art issues of regional interest.
The above information is supplied courtesy of Asialink. For further information contact:
Alison Carroll/Penelope Aitken
Asialink
107 Barry Street
CARLTON VIC 3053
Tel: 61-3-9349 1899, 9349 2010
Fax: 61-3-9347 1768
Other Identified Resources: Books, Slides, Suppliers
A comprehensive list of available books on the subject of Asian art may be found in Appendix 14.
As stated in the introduction, references to Asian art, both contemporary and traditional have been included in order to allow for the situation of contemporary Asian art in its historical context.
A list of slides is not included, but the Appendices contain a guide to possible suppliers of Asian material.
National Galleries such as in Victoria and Queensland do maintain a number of slides although the Art Gallery of Queensland indicated that, because of copyright, they would not be available for loan but would be available for viewing. The National Gallery of Victoria publishes a catalogue of slides of their collection. These slides are available to secondary and tertiary educational institutions, museums and art galleries for research and teaching purposes (see Appendix 10).
This documents the research of resources undertaken thus far. As stated in the introduction, the results are far from comprehensive but give a fair indication of the type of resources available. The results also demonstrate that awareness of and interest in the art produced by our Asian neighbours is increasing, and that there are organisations within Australia actively involved in gathering information and material about the subject of Asian art and pursuing activities aimed at promoting greater cooperation and collaboration within the region.