Torch - Fall 2014

Heads’ Message

Celebrating the Arts at Havergal

By Mrs. Leslie Anne Dexter, Head of Junior School, and Dr. Michael Simmonds, Head of Upper School

H avergal College has always been committed to providing a strong liberal arts education for all its students. And while it takes time for students to develop the skills required to write, reason and communicate clearly in ways that allow them to make connections between disciplines, it seems that children everywhere are born with a predisposition to play, imagine and create. Give any child under four years of age crayons and some paper and, without exception, an original work emerges from the blank page. Of course the adults may have to ask some questions of the artist to better understand the creation itself, but that conversation inevitably reveals some greater truth about perception and reality—both for the artist and for the viewer. That is the experiential nature of the creative process, and it finds a home at Havergal in the visual and performing arts from JK through to Grade 12. The arts play an integral role in developing the hearts and minds of students at Havergal. Whether it be the self-portraits drawn by our Kindergarten students that adorn the walls of their classrooms or the arias sung by an Upper School student at Prayers, this school celebrates, honours and educates emerging artists in drama, dance, band, strings, singing, graphic arts, painting, photography, sculpture and print making. A whole team of passionate and committed educators (who are also artists in their own right) helps our students express their creative selves in ways that can surprise our students and their families. Take, for example, the interdisciplinary works created by our Junior School students. Children translate their understanding of the principles of music and visual arts into unique multimedia works to create a hybrid project where art and music collide. In so

doing, they internalize fundamental artistic concepts and show how underlying ideas and expressions of art are universal and can be communicated through a variety of disciplines in diverse ways. And, while integrating the arts across disciplines helps our students make connections they had not previously considered, the Grade 9 stone carving project challenges our girls to connect with something more physical. Stone carving is an art form that students have little experience with and most come to the practice as complete beginners—each girl starting from the same place as a novice carver. Before starting a project, most students are concerned with the quality of their graphic skills and their ability to draw or paint realistically; they tend to value student work mainly for its realism and can overlook ingenuity, innovation and risk-taking. Havergal’s stone carving program levels the creative playing field because Grade 9 students do not have to be “good” at drawing or painting to begin the project. And because the carving seems to emerge from within the stone itself—this is called reductive sculpture—abstract forms are just as likely to manifest as more traditional ones. There is no erasing or painting over. The sculpture takes shape slowly. A piece of stone can (and does) break off and the student’s initial idea for a finished work changes in that moment. In this way our students learn first-hand that creating art requires tremendous patience, perseverance, problem solving, courage, practice, thought and revision. There is nothing perfect about stone carving. It is a messy process and things break. This is a concept the Art department wants students to understand early on in their studies; one that will

Globally, we need more people who can re-imagine, re-interpret and reflect the diversity of the human condition.

10  HAVERGAL COLLEGE