Guest Post for Habitat Earth

It's my pleasure to share the blog post below. I'm delighted with the administrator's choice of images to illustrate it. 

To revisit my posts on this art education, please drop in on these archives: 

Central Technical School  -  School Art  and  More School Art.   

As well as this recent post: The Interview with Dustin Garnet.

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HABITAT EARTH

The Arts
A START IN ART:

GUEST POST BY ALICE SALTIEL-MARSHALL

In junior high I spent inordinate amounts of time working up detailed drawings to illustrate what I thought women throughout history might have looked like.  Concurrently, as the eldest of two sisters in a neighbourhood of predominantly girls, I'd have them open Eaton's catalogues, select garments and draw any clothes they wanted for the dozens of cutout dolls I made them.

The foresight of my grade eight teacher, Mr. Harold Holden, and his recommendation placed me, an inner city kid with poor grades from an impoverished family, on the right path.  Rather than wither at an academic high school, I thrived in Central Technical School's high school special art program.  Being blue collar, my parents thought this was cool.  

Neil Sharp, yours truly and Mark Thurman  April 26, 1964

From 1962 to 1966 our class of the same 30-35 students (some came, some went) became like a family. Often socializing outside of school, we learned and played our way through the grades together.  We were keen, budding artists, wanting to excel and this promoted a healthy competition among us.  Central Tech's top-notch teachers seriously impacted us.  Among the staff were Charles Goldhammer, Dawson Kennedy and his wife Kathleen Kennedy, Virginia Luz, Doris McCarthy, Robert Ross (not the TV Bob Ross!) and Paul Summerskill.  Our instructors were practicing artists who continued to explore, experiment and build their skills.  Their unspoken gift was their living example.  We knew they had rich, full and delightful lives.  It was as if they said 'Here, take the art we teach with you;  it is our way of life and it can be yours also.'

Mark Thurman, me and John Williamson (RIP), January 1966

We drew nude models almost daily.  By this repetition we really learned how to draw. Preparing for careers in fine or commercial art we were taught classic fundamental basics of design and layout.  Mr. Kennedy assigned a project where we mixed colours for and hand painted 109 little 5/8" square chips of colour.  These were then laid out to show the subtle changes in hue when we added white, black and three shades of grey to each of eight pure colours.  With that type of hands-on scrutinizing of colour the knowledge of it became intrinsic.  We studied history of art.  In anatomy we learned the names of every bone and muscle in the human body.  We were taught lettering (pre-computer age) by hand painting classic and decorative fonts, and studied methods of printmaking.

Colour  Charts - 109 chips

Unlike students today, who respond poorly when told to do things over and over until they are mastered, we listened and we did as the instructors asked.  It was a time when teachers weren't questioned.  As art is best learned by watching others make it, our teachers would demonstrate then leave us to work it our for ourselves.  They laid on us the blunt reality that if we were going to succeed in the art world, we'd need to be serious and diligent in our independent work or we'd end up slinging beer.

Life drawing was a daily event, April 1966

In our final year, we were advised to assemble a portfolio of our best work for prospective employment or further education.  Behind the scenes our portfolios were shown to people from the industry who came to the school - head hunters of young souls!  I was offered a job as a cartographer with the City of Toronto and began work immediately upon school finishing.  I didn't know what a cartographer was, but I soon learned it wasn't for me.  My map-making career lasted a week before I quit.  Back then, jobs came easily and, on the basis of my portfolio, I was quickly employed again.  I worked as a commercial artist for a number of years.

Figure painting, acrylic 28"x15"
Fourth year, 1966

Ah, but school wasn't the only thing to shape my destiny.  Three years out of Central Tech I met and married Bill, a man with curiosity and wanderlust.  He has always been a huge supporter of my art-making practice.  In 1972, when we first moved west we lived in a rural area, and me without a driver's licence.  At his urging I settled in to becoming a fine art painter.  What has followed are decades of glorious opportunities and experiences, thanks to art as the driving force.  Like my teachers, I'm happily living a life where art is a daily mindset even if I am not actually painting, and I can't imagine it any other way!

Alice Saltiel-Marshall  

Alice Saltiel-Marshall, August 4, 2012

You can see an article by the Toronto Sun's Lorrie Goldstein here about the contemporary focus of Central Tech's arts program.

The Interview With Dustin Garnet

On April 21st, 2013, I received this email ...

Hello Alice,
My name is Dustin Garnet and I am an instructor in the Central Tech art program. I am also a PhD candidate writing my thesis on the history of the CTS art program.
I just came across your comments and pictures on the Internet about your experience at Tech. I was thrilled!!!  (He is referring to this post.) 
Would you be interested in having a phone or a Skype interview about your experience?
I've already interviewed a bunch of former staff and students and I think your story would be a great contribution!
Please let me know whenever you can.
Best,
Dustin 

I checked Dustin Garnet out online and promptly replied with a hearty "Yes"! The phone or Skype interview morphed into a live, in our own home interview. On the heels of a conference in Victoria, B.C., Dustin flew to Calgary, rented a car on June 8th, 2013, and drove the 130kms to Claresholm.

The video taped part of our day lasted a little over one hour

The moment he came through our front door I was endeared to him. Our first hour, becoming acquainted, was animated and forthright. He'd emailed me questions to ponder. Those of you who know me would know that I'd have questions of my own, and often among the first is "How old are you?" "Thirty-three" he responded. His obvious passion for Central Tech (where he's been on staff for six years) and easy manner made it easy for me to be my usual, unreserved self. Please view Dustin's art here. 

My vanity had me ask to see how I looked on camera

In lovely weather, we enjoyed lunch on our back deck, after which I took Dustin down to The Anne Frank Room. There he photographed my memorabilia and student art until it was time for him to dash back to Calgary for a 5 o'clock flight.

I happily watched as Dustin delighted in photographing everything from book covers of school projects, photos, to my diploma and report cards. He marveled at the fact that we were actually ranked according to our overall, average mark; i.e. 3 in a class of 15.

My final report card ... notice how heavily weighted art subjects were compared to the academic subjects

This fine letter, to the graduates, accompanied our diploma

       

  

And there I am, diploma in hand, November 18th, 1966

Dustin asked about student interaction. I was so honoured when he said that he could give a dissertation on me and my classmates. He wondered about how our teachers instructed. I felt (because art is so visual) that they had taught by doing and then left us to work it out. What they gave us was a desire to be like them. We could see that, as artists, they enjoyed a wonderful life both in and out of the classroom. I wanted that.

Design class, Dawson Kennedy, January 1966

 

My photo from the VULCAN, Central Tech's 1966 year book

When the four-year course was over I was not yet weaned from Central Tech and neither were other students from my graduating class. Some of us returned for night classes in life drawing. As well, I took sculpture which was not offered in the high school art program. 

Dustin wanted to know about work placement after school. To my recollection it was arranged behind the scenes. Sent off to be a cartographer, I lasted a week.  Good thing employment was easy to come by back then. Upon quitting I was hired, on the basis of my portfolio, at a division of Irwin Toy; Irwin Specialties. There, using a non-rotary x-acto knife, I hand-cut pro-film for silk screens (of my designs) to be printed as souvenirs. Pennants, t-shirts and tea towels. It was all very unglamourous (although it set me up for fine art, silk screen printing in later years) but it was a great deal more interesting than map making!   

    

How wonderful that Dustin came so far to spend a day with me! He gave me a tremendous opportunity to remember my school days, of some 50 years ago, with someone new. Someone who feels every bit as strongly about the institution as I do. I look forward to his transcript of our interview and to his final thesis presentation.  

Not to mention the book and the movie! 

Central Tech, Classmate's Art

Somewhere in third year (1964-65) of us kids thought it would be a great idea to collect the work of our fellow classmates. Some didn't want to share or exchange. After they had been marked, our assignments were regularly left in a heap, on a table. We were expected to find and retrieve our own work. On days when there were absentees we enterprising kids helped ourselves to whatever we wanted. It maybe that it was only Helen Salomaa and myself who were thieves! This is how I came to own a small, delightful collection of artwork, some of which I share with you here ...

Helen Salomaa - charcoal 27.5" x 18.25" - 4th year

In her own way Helen was a master of the human form and among many things, she was ambidextrous. She was shrouded in mystery. We never knew her age, but she had to have been older than most of us because she had her own car and a studio in Markham Village, supported we assume by the sale of her oil paintings. 

Barbara Krasinski - gouache 19" x 13" -  3rd year

Barbara's armour was one of the Museum Class assignments. She married and dropped out in third year.

Lisa Shallhese - pencil & watercolour - 21.5" x 15" - 4th year

Lisa had a very avant-guarde flair to her work. Only Simone ever got close to her, she came across as mature and somewhat withdrawn.

Sally Simone - pencil 22" x 15" - 4th year

Simone (you never called her Sally) was a no nonsense, exceptionally petite gal with a most distinctive personal style. She married halfway through third year stayed with us and graduated with honours ... number one student in our class of fifteen.

Sandra Shibata - oil pastel 17" x 13" - 4th year



We had two Sandras. Ko who is Chinese and Shibata who is Japanese. Both gentle spirits.  This drawing illustrates an inner strength not visible in Shibata's outward demeanour.

Murray McLauchlan - conte 24" x 16"- 4th year



Murray's strong portrait, like the kid himself, makes a statement on black paper. His yearbook quote made reference to his probable fate of busking for quarters in a New York subway.

John Williamson - watercolour 19" x 15" - 3rd year

Another Museum Class project by John; an exceptional use of watercolour. Even way back then, he was our most troubled soul. After a short, fast life and somewhere in the past decade he took his own life.

Mark Thurman - charcoal 15.75" x 22" - 4th year

And then there is Mark, the fellow whom we all admired for the talent which simply flowed from him. He was always top of the class until the very last semester of final year when Simone bumped him to second place. I was third. An interesting fact: at the beginning of grade nine we three were the runts of the class all measuring five feet tall. At the end of grade twelve Mark was 5'10", I had grown to 5'6" and Simone was still 5'.

Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end.

Central Tech, My School Art

Only a small collection of my student art work has survived the years and most of the pieces I kept are what I would have considered to be my best efforts; work done in our final year.  An early assignment was to set up right across the street from the school and draw a building.  I chose this boarded up house.  A pretty basic drawing but please remember I had only just turned 14!

Pen and ink 22"x15"   First year, 1962

Central Technical School is a public high school with the Toronto Board of Education; tax dollars well spent.  If you recall the television program FAME, that's what I liken it to.  There had to be some advantages to being an inner city kid!  Life drawing was a constant throughout the four years, here is an early exercise:

Life drawing exercise, pencil 22"x15"   Second year, 1963

You can't help but improve when life drawing classes were either all morning or all afternoon long and happened almost every day.  Compare the sophistication of the drawing below to the one above. 



Life drawing, pencil 26"x17.25"   Fourth year, 1966

The first time we 14 year old kids had a live, nude model we were scared half to death when a barefoot, bare-legged, male model sauntered into the studio wearing a bathrobe. Eyes downcast, unable to look at one another we all held our breath, but when he took off the robe there was an almost audible, collective sigh of relief. Back then inequality was alive and well; the women were completely nude (those who wanted to be that is) but the men wore g-strings. In forth year painting the figure was introduced ...

Figure painting, acrylic 28"x15"   Fourth year, 1966

We were being prepared for any path in an artistic life; many courses had commercial art in mind. Some of the girls dreamed of being fashion designers and some of the boys hoped to go into advertising fast cars. Most of us did go on to pursue a wide variety of careers in the arts. 

Learning was exciting with the broad range of subjects which, in addition to all that life drawing, included: History of Art, Research, Design, Illustration, Lettering - much was done by hand, although we did have Letraset there were NO computers! Anatomy - we had to learn all the bones and muscles in the human body. We had a class called Museum when we would got to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) and there, from life, paint things like coats of armour, African masks or the enormous Chinese mural.

Some design projects ...  

Book sleeve, watercolour and ink, 8"x20"   Fourth year, 1966

Five page, three fold brochure, each page 8.5"x11", gouache   Fourth year, 1966



Album cover, acrylic, 6"x6"   Fourth year, 1966

And for those of you who may have been waiting for it, done from an arrangement Doris McCarthy set up in her studio classroom ... my first oil painting:

Still life, oil 20"x24"   Fourth year, 1966

Central Technical School

Last week, I took a nostalgic trip down memory lane as I photographed old pictures from my art school days.  If Xpresspost is all it's cracked up to be Mark will receive the CD I made him for his birthday, today.

Helen Salomaa in front of the Art Building, January, 1966 

The gal behind the camera most of the time is pictured above.  Our own personal paparazzi; she has left us with a life-long gift of so many photographs.  I stopped in the midst of writing this post to consult Canada 411 where I found Helen's phone number.  After all these years, she and I have just had a long, wonderful and rich conversation. 

In September, 1962, ten days after I entered grade nine and the Art Course at Central Tech, I turned fourteen.  Side by side thirty kids (some came, some went) forged their artistic skills in the four-year art program.  To accommodate the extensive range of art courses our academic classes consisted only of the absolute essentials.  These we studied all together in "the old school" classrooms. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Technical_School

However, we were split into two groups for art classes and spent glorious hours in the fabulous studios of the art building.  This afforded us an intimacy the likes of which was highly improbable in a regular curriculum of a Toronto Public High School.  At the time Central Tech had an enrollment of 2000 students.

We made art and studied together ...

Mark Thurman, me and John Williamson (RIP), January 1966

... and, we played together ...


 

Neil Sharp, yours truly and Mark Thurman, April 26th, 1964

Being children of the 60s we were naturally influenced by The Beatles.  Above we emulate their Twist and Shout album cover.


Murray McLaughlin, me, Sandra Shibata and Sandra Ko, January, 1966

Having such intense courses, based on solid classical training (in other words we learned how to draw) available to me while so young was undoubtedly one of the finest opportunities of my life.  Art instruction was imparted by instructors of the highest calibre including Canadian icon Doris McCarthy, who taught there for 40 years.


Life drawing was a daily event, April 1966

As the four years flew by I savoured every day dreading its end well before the last year came and went.   

Last day of the last year in Paul Summerskill's class, June 10th, 1966

Many divine turns have sent me in directions I never dreamed of but, to this day, I maintain the foundation that I continue to build on are those precious Central Tech years.