Three2Six Art Book "A sense of self, a sense of place"

at Sacred Heart College Three2Six Refugee Education Project

a sense of self a sense of place art by refugee children

The Three2Six holiday art programme marks the continuation of the involvement of Sacred Heart College in arts education programmes that address issues of social justice.

Here, I think of the work done by one of South Africa’s great arts educators, Charlotte Schaer, who taught at Sacred Heart College for some years before founding the Curriculum Development Trust, an important arts education ngo. Charlotte passed away in May 2012.

The exhibition of the Three2Six art takes place on the anniversary of her death. I know that she would have been very pleased to see the work being produced by the Three2Six project, as it seems to embody so much of what she represented.

David Andrew Associate Professor and Head Division of Visual Arts - Wits School of Arts The opening of the exhibition at gifa

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Contents 6

Introduction

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Three2Six

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A Sense of Self, a Sense of Place

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Journey with an Artist

18 Charcoal, Pen & Ink 32 Pastels 44 Beading & Drawing 48 Ceramics 52 Collective Triptych 64 Collage 74 Stained Glass 76 Stencil 82 Acknowledgements

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Laetia

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age 8

Introduction “In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.�

Nobel Laureate Wangari Muta Maathai The Three2Six Education Project is an afternoon bridging school for 200 refugee children who have not been able to access state education. It was born out of a simple idea: making existing resources and facilities, when not in use, available to those in need. The project aims to improve the quality of life and opportunities of indigent and marginalised refugee children in the Johannesburg inner city by providing them with a quality bridging education from Grades 1 to 6, access to resources and social and nutritional support.

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Samuel age 11 | 7

Three2Six

Colin Northmore: Head of Sacred Heart College Esther Munonoka: Three2Six Education Project Coordinator

The Three2Six Education Project is this year (2013) celebrating five successful years and we can confidently say that it has changed many lives. Belonging, participating and being active members of an ethical, meaningful and productive community are key needs of refugees.

Three2Six provides a support structure, a connection and a community for children and families who are isolated and excluded.

It must be noted, though, that as much as the project benefits the refugee children, it also benefits the learners at Sacred Heart College. As South Africans we cannot isolate ourselves from other nations on the African continent, many of which are beset with serious problems; and we cannot allow xenophobic reactions to diminish us as a country. For the Sacred Heart learners, the Three2Six project is a daily reminder that we are all part of a wider African community – and that this is a privilege, not a burden.

We hope that this book will become a useful resource for a number of different communities of practice, including educators, art therapists, development workers and corporate social investment managers, and that it will add to the discourse on how institutions respond to the challenges facing refugees and immigrants in South Africa.

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Sacred Heart College volunteers at the Three2Six holiday art programme

Musa age 12 | 9

A Sense of Self, a Sense of Place Nabeel Essa: Exhibition Curator

When I first saw the artwork produced by the Three2Six holiday art programme 2012, I was energised by the evocative power of the hand drawn image. When drawing expresses the process of thinking, it is a profound medium. Charcoal, pen, pencil, ink, pastels or paint, in the hands of the Three2Six children, allow for a bold and sincere form of expression.

The marks have a raw honesty, expressions captured are quirky and fragile, while colours bring to life multiple narratives. Stories told in line and texture collectively draw an emotionally charged landscape. The children’s imaginings, challenging life experiences and dreams, unfold on paper and canvas. A sorrowful bird, a tiger-man, a house, a home, a palm tree, flags and goal keepers - the images set a scene that explores displacement and popular culture, the wild and the tame, self and place.

The Three2Six project is Sacred Heart College’s afternoon school for refugee children. It shares an intensity of experiences with the day school, particularly in engagements such as the winter holiday art programme, where a number of Sacred Heart learners helped out. The workshop process engaged more than technique and medium - it opened up new possibilities for seeing and looking, making and viewing and pointed to the value of the production, consumption and the positive role of art in the development of young minds.

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Kerthy

age 6

Journey with an Artist

André Croucamp: Art Programme Facilitator

The daily curriculum of Three2Six is focused on English, Mathematics and Life Skills. During the long winter holiday children have the chance to come to school in the mornings and explore other learning areas. This includes the opportunity for creative expression. For the past three years, the MindBurst team has facilitated art-making projects during this winter holiday programme.

In 2010, the children created Refugee Stories, a book of their stories and drawings. This was used to raise awareness and funding. In 2011, the children created Prescieuse – A refugee’s story, a stop frame animation.

The children created the story, puppets, sets, voices and sound effects.

The MindBurst team and Sacred Heart volunteers did the photography, sound and editing. Prescieuse has travelled the world, doing advocacy work for refugees.

In 2012, we invited the children to go on a Journey with an Artist.

We hoped that this project would help children to: articulate their experiences and emotions in a non-verbal way;

• • find a space to creatively express their fears and dreams; • discover that there are many ways of viewing the world and themselves in relation to it;

• develop a relationship with an adult role model and mentor; • discover the sheer joy of creativity and • engage in a process that would leave them with a great sense of achievement.

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For four days, from 13-16 August 2012, children between the ages of 5 and 13 worked on individual and group art works under the guidance of practising artists.

It is easy to get sentimental about a child’s art, especially a refugee child. This was not the intention of this project. We wanted the children to experience the process of conceptualising and refining an artwork, which included getting feedback from someone with expertise and applying that to the creative process.

The artists encouraged the children to dig deep and explore their capacity to express their past experiences, their thoughts about the present and their dreams for the future. The central theme running through Journey with an Artist can be encapsulated as ‘my journey to me’.

With the advantage of having an artist guide their creations, the conversation between artist and student provided the motivation to engage process. The finished works represent a journey of self-discovery and learning about the world.

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All the children on the holiday programme were asked to put their names and ages on their artworks.

Not all of them did so, thus a number of the names are missing.

We tried to match children to artworks but as some of the children left the Three2Six Education Project at the end of 2012 to go into state education, we were unfortunately unable to fill all the gaps.

Three2Six is a bridging school, so children from Grades 2 to 6 apply to state schools when they are ready to do so, freeing up space for other refugee children on the Three2Six waiting list.

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Journey with an Artist

Anne-Marie Moore: Art Programme Co-facilitator Being involved with the Three2Six Education Project was an extremely rewarding experience. Watching young people listen, learn and create successfully in a short space of time is remarkable. The interaction between facilitators, students and children afforded growth for all concerned. Within a short space of time, teachers and youngsters combined in a creative journey. Each person who participated, from the youngest to the oldest, embarked on an unknown journey.

New skills were learned, works of art were created and friendships forged. An understanding of young people in stress-filled situations emerged. From frenetic beginnings to fine pieces of art, the journey of self, be it that of facilitator, student or helper, allowed each person a feeling of excited fulfilment in a space of shared humility.

In this area of safety and learning we discovered that there are no refugees, there are only displaced persons. These children are our guests and as such we should treat them with respect. Adapted from Mike Turner

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Charcoal Pen & Ink John Moore John is a master printmaker who works primarily in the printmaking field, although he does use pastels and charcoal.

He is a full time artist and teaches and works from his studio at home. He has completed several commissions and is preparing for an exhibition at the Origins Centre at Wits in August 2013.

Every day the tables were set for a dierent discipline, which included charcoal, pen and ink and pencil.

I wanted the children to complete various images each day.

They soon saw that tasks that initially seemed insurmountable could easily be completed with encouragement and support.

One of the rewards for the children was to see their work displayed daily. Without realising it they built up a portfolio of work that filled them with pride.

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Saron

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age 11

At the World Summit on Arts Education held in Munich, Germany, in May 2013, discussion focused on how quality arts education is able to equip learners with what are becoming known as so-called “twenty first century skills” or “habits of mind”.

In one presentation, a speaker spoke of five dimensions of creativity as the presence of: Inquisitiveness, Persistence, Imagination, Discipline and Collaboration.

It would seem to me that each of these dimensions is present in the exhibition of art by refugee children from the Three2Six Education Project.

There is also a healing dimension that takes place through involvement in aesthetic processes and this is very evident in the work of the Three2Six children. Perhaps this dimension of healing and compassion through the arts requires further surfacing in the understanding of “twenty-first century skills”.

David Andrew

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Taris age 13

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Deborah age 11

Ronnie

Kelvin age 12

age 13

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Ruvanira

Taris 24 |

age 12

age 13

Brack

age 11

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Omega age 11

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Heritier

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age 11

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Ronnie

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Pastels Tichaziva Chiwota Tichaziva is a self-taught artist from Zimbabwe. He has completed several commissioned works at Henley on Klip and Alrode South and is presently working on animal portraits.

I chose pastels as the medium to teach the children. Most of the children remembered their past experiences and when memories had fled, we were able to borrow moments to create a positive future.

Joseph age 10

The children have a broad interpretation of self and that certainly assisted them in the tasks set. I hope that it will give them some positive tools to deal with an uncertain future.

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Jislin

age 9

Joseph age 10

The desk is placed directly below the clock. The time is 9 o’ clock - one would assume in the morning - and thus the start of the day. On the wall, above what appears to be a bookshelf (that reminds one of a Rubik’s Cube), is a framed portrait of a person, someone important perhaps.

It could be a self portrait, or possibly a role model in the form of a father or teacher.

Observation by Johannesburg artist Jaco van den Heever

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Joseph age 10

We are invited into the heart of the artist’s sense of self and place. The place, however, appears more abstract than physical, as it seems to simulate notions of success and achievement. The actual room, or even the view outside the window, appears unimportant. It is the activity within the room, structured around time and work, that seems to be valued most.

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Joseph age 10

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Shylet

age 10

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Both the front and the rear number plates are visible. Acute observation and careful attention has been paid to the rear number plate as well. It is in mirror text, suggesting its slant away from us.

Why is the artist grappling with a number plate to this extent? A number, like a house number or identity number for example, can define place and ownership.

The car also seems to oppose the peering eyes (metaphorically represented as windows) of a foreign city, as it marks its presence in bold red.

Jislin

age 9

Observation by Johannesburg artist Jaco van den Heever

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No information for this image

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The Three2Six artworks (and the programme as a whole) speak of University of Luxembourg educationalist Gert Biesta’s explanation of a ‘deepened’ learning process: There is, however, another way to understand learning, one that does not think of learning as the acquisition of something that already exists, but instead sees learning as responding, as a response to “a question.”

If we look at learning in this way, we can say that someone has learned something not when she is able to copy and reproduce what existed, but when she responds to what is unfamiliar, what is different, what challenges, irritates, or even disturbs.

Here learning becomes a creation or an invention, a process of bringing something new into the world: one’s own, unique response. (G Biesta, The Community of those who have nothing in common 2006, 68) The works here would suggest that this form of learning was experienced in the Three2Six holiday art programme.

Yes, the children were learning technical skills, but something more happened – they were asserting their agency, their navigational skills and as Arjun Appadurai (social anthropologist at New School University) would say, “acquiring capacities to aspire”.

David Andrew

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Dai age 9

Beading Drawing Shari-Claire Banhegyi Shari-Claire Banhegyi believes that the act of creating art is therapeutic and a way to help people through difficult times.

She gives outlet to her own creative sensibility by designing and participating in art-making projects.

I worked with the younger children (ages 5 to 7). Even though it was a large group I found the children very receptive to the creative processes presented. I chose beading necklaces and making cards, as these were fun and accessible.

I believe it is important to give children choice and to give them the chance to express themselves without any rules. It teaches them more about themselves and the beautiful things they can create. I enjoyed working with these children and would love to continue to work in an outreach situation.

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Jarfy

age 6

Mpuru age 10

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Ceramics Anne-Marie Moore

Assisted by Jeannette Holshausen, Jill Paterson, Joy Rubin and Ghita Broude Anne-Marie has been a teacher for many years and enjoys encouraging creativity in students. She teaches from her studio as well as facilitating workshops with refugees in various parts of Africa and India. Anne-Marie is also a calligrapher and poet.

We wanted to do a project with the younger children (Grade R to Grade 3) that felt as substantial and important as the projects of the older children, yet was practically achievable and satisfying.

It was important for them to learn to follow instructions and apply newly learnt techniques yet have enough room for self expression and innovation. Painting plates, that could later be fired and combined into dinner sets according to themes, seemed the solution.

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Together with the generous assistance of the Colour CafĂŠ, some wonderful friends and the Sacred Heart College High School volunteers, the children were facilitated in a few days of creative fun.

Bisque plates were placed on tables, with paints, brushes, stencils and a large dash of enthusiasm.

The idea of producing a real-world product that would be valued and used by someone at their table was a novel experience for the children. Once fired, the results were surprising.

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Collective Triptych Gill McDowell Gill is a trained printmaker, an educational print media developer and art process facilitator. Gill teaches art with a spirit of mindfulness taken from the discipline of T’ai Chi, with integration and non-competitiveness as a focus.

Working with these children affirmed the fact that creative engagement is a path to creativity and wholeness. Because the group was diverse, I split them up, which allowed for the creative interchange of ideas and assistance in one another’s art works.

The perception of ownership was set aside and the children were very open to shared artwork. They were eager to exchange, share and cooperate with one another to create an homogeneous piece of art.

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The idea of the triptych was a useful way for the children to talk about and express their past, present and future lives in a structured way .

For their ‘past’ panel, some of the younger boys said that they couldn’t really remember much about their lives ‘back home’. They just knew about a war and horrible things happening, so many of them got involved in drawing war pictures. But as they worked on them, they began to retell stories they had heard and were able to talk at length about things that had happened - how houses had been shot at and how no one was safe.

A couple of boys could not speak, but drew - a burnt out house, someone being shot in a boat. The older girls, on the other hand, immediately drew pictures of their previous homesteads. They drew rivers and the fish in them and the kind of plants that grew there. They were reluctant to talk about or think about war.

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The framing of the middle section was the children’s present experience. It became clear that travelling by bus was a central theme, as was where they lived now. The image of the bus was an image that was repeated as an important element in their lives. A bus represented travelling from their home country; it also represented getting to and from school. Interestingly, the girls’ middle panels are more about establishing their identity - pictures of themselves, their clothes, their names.

The last panel dealt with the children’s future, what they wanted for themselves and who they wanted to become. In this regard, it was interesting how clear the children were in projecting their future, even if it did mean becoming a very large soldier! They spent a lot of effort putting detail into these pictures of themselves.

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Once they had worked on all three panels of their triptych and the panels were joined, I asked the children how they could join the three panels so that their lives could become a coherent whole. One device that was spontaneously used was to link everything by adding roads, ‘because we are travelling’.

The girls made use of colour to add coherence to their life panels. Unlike the boys, they were not as interested in anchoring down elements. They were at ease with a level of abstraction, their futures floating in pink seas. The boys wanted sky, some clouds, grass and roads; their future selves were drawn large and given bold titles.

Gill McDowell

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There is evidence, in the work of the Three2Six children, of a rich arts education programme that created opportunities to notice closely and sensitively, and to imagine differently. To imagine differently is surely one of the most important goals of teaching and learning processes.

There are numerous examples of this close and sensitive noticing in the children’s work. In one of the collaborative triptych pieces, a beautifully observed dictation lesson is taking place in a classroom. The imagining differently happens where giant dogs, rhinos, lions, bugs and cats occupy the city of Johannesburg.

Established artists such as David Koloane and William Kentridge would, I think, be inspired by these images of the city.

David Andrew

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Twelve children participated in the triptych workshop: two pairs of girls aged about 12 and four pairs of boys aged about 8 years.

The only names available for these artworks are Aaron age 9, Glody age 10 and Etoile age 9.

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Collage Jamie Gowrie Jamie Gowrie was born in 1989 in Johannesburg. In 2011 she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art at Wits University.

She works primarily in painting and is currently completing a Post Graduate Certificate in Education at Wits University.

For the Journey with an Artist project, the children and I embarked on a process where magazines, newspapers and paint were ripped, smeared and combined together. The children were first asked to create collages that served as references leading up to their final work, a collaged-painting.

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Dorcas

age 10

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This journey was a free and spontaneous process, where the learners were active in creating their own imaginary and bizarre compositions. Fragmented cut-outs of animals, people and landscapes were stuck together, joined and overlapped to create a layered surface. The layering process was also enhanced with paint, which saw learners mix together unusual colours to strengthen their compositions.

My journey with a small group of the talented Three2Six children was a fulfilling and creative process.

Jamie Gowrie

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Etoile

age 9

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Exhaucee

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age 12

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Paul

age 11 | 71

Yollande

age 11

The artwork evokes tension through a timid body, one appearing to suer from a wounded arm, with a leopard mask.

The leopard head, golden hair and wounded arm appear metaphorical. There seems to be a further disconnect between the body and the stormy, rain drenched landscape. Even the ground she stands on seems flooded Jaco van Heever

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Stained Glass Robyn Knowles Robyn teaches Arts and Culture to Junior High learners at Sacred Heart College. Her favourite part of teaching is trying new projects with the learners and, of course, the learners themselves.

Our aim was to create a stained glass window for the outer wall of the Sacred Heart College hall. We started by drawing bright and exciting pictures of our favourite animals and things that make us happy, like rainbows, flowers and sweets. The group then designed our window, incorporating at least one thing that each learner had drawn. Once the images had been transferred onto the glass, Sacred Heart learners assisted with the outlines and then we all coloured in the images.

Children were so excited to see their images on the window.

Younger learners had a great time looking for their favourite colours. It was a fun and truly valuable group experience with everyone wanting to help as much as possible.

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Stencil Usha Seejarim Usha is an award-winning sculptor and installation artist who has a knack for turning everyday objects into surprising works of art. She is a committed art educator and has exhibited nationally and internationally.

Given the age of the learners, I decided to use spray paint as a medium. Spraypaint is relatively quick to work with, has a ‘magical’ quality and is just a cool, fun medium. It was therefore ideal for our purpose.

We first experienced a short visualisation exercise, where the learners were taken to their own ideal place of beauty. While some described beautiful, tranquil places, others’ descriptions included helicopters, knives, guns and dead bodies. The children then drew images of the places they visualised and later selected aspects of their drawings to convert to stencils.

These were then used to create their final artworks.

Even though we only spent three days developing these artworks, there was a distinct growth in confidence and a sense of freedom, evident in their work. The children’s earlier sketches reflected a timidity and vulnerability, which very quickly transformed to bright colours and bold forms. It was incredible to be witness to this growth.

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The Johannesburg Stock Exchange was delighted to see Sacred Heart College deliver on a refugee programme which took young people from the community, in a substructure adjoining the College, and gave them the opportunity to communicate, get artistic experience and prepare works of art that were commendable.

From the JSE’s point of view, being a good citizen is of great value to our community.

The JSE was amazed by the commitment and dedication of the Sacred Heart College community (Head of College, teachers, parents and students) that helped create such a successful programme.

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We would like to thank our sponsors and express our sincere appreciation for their generous support.

The Three2Six holiday programme and Journey with an Artist

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on how the BUSINESS AND ARTS SOUTH AFRICA (BASA) identity may be correct

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The book “a sense of self, a sense of place”

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Acknowledgements Three2Six Education Project Esther Munonoka Three2Six Coordinator Sarah Patzelt and Lena Monshausen Volunteers from Kindermissionswerk, Germany Sacred Heart College Colin Northmore Sheila Ntsepo Naomi Meyer Viv McAlpine Design & facilitation of art programme André Croucamp (MindBurst Workshop) Anne-Marie Moore Facilitating artists John Moore, Tichaziva Chiwota, Shari-Claire Banhegyi Anne-Marie Moore (assisted by Ghita Broude, Jeanette Holshausen Gill Paterson and Joy Rubin) Gill McDowell, Jamie Gowrie Robyn Knowles, Usha Seejarim Exhibition curator Nabeel Essa Book editor Bea Roberts Photography Rob Mills, Thabo Makgato, André Croucamp Layout Pam Shoulder (the training school) Framing Glorina Picture Framers Ceramics Colour Café

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Sacred Heart College would like to extend a special word of thanks to: Gauteng Institute for Architecture David Andrew Gil Brokensha Michelle Constant Steffen Fischer Lakin Morgan Zogon Opperman Geoff Rothschild Jenny Troxler Adrienne van den Heever Jaco van den Heever Marilyn Wood

Holiday programme support Tebogo Maleka, Bea Roberts, Veni Munien, Sacred Heart College support staff Sacred Heart College High School volunteers Holiday programme food Janet Balchin & Sacred Heart College tuckshop staff Gil Brokensha, Roddy Payne, Marilyn Wood Published by Sacred Heart College Observatory, Johannesburg June 2013 ISBN 978-0-620-57074-9 Design and production Pam Shoulder (the training school) Printing Fishwicks Disclaimer All material is strictly copyright and all rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from the publisher. Whilst every care has been taken in compiling this publication, neither the publisher nor Sacred Heart College and it’s associates give any warranty as to the accuracy of the content.

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Proceeds from the sale of this book and the art work will go to the Three2Six Refugee Education Project for children.

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Sacred Heart College

Exhibition - 21st May 2013 Gauteng Institute for Architecture (GIFA) Exhibition and Auction - 17 June 2013 Sacred Heart College

Cover Art: detail from artwork donated to JSE facilitated by Jamie Gowrie