ART IN EVERYDAY LIFE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 58, 2 August 1940, Page 15

ART IN EVERYDAY LIFE

New Series Of Talks From NBS ERHAPS the most difficult obstacle to be removed from the path of art is the deeplyfooted idea that art is an extra in life, that it is something that you go to see in galleries, something practised by queer people who dress extravagantly, are generally poor, and often of doubtful morals. Whereas really art isn’t that at all, or shouldn’t be. It is something that affects everyone of us every day, something to be enjoyed just

as regularly and naturally as the food we eat. We really cannot get away from art, because the houses we live in and public buildings we use are expressions of art. It may be bad art-it often is-but still it is art. Then why not understand something about art? Understanding will.

bring deeper appreciation. Station 3YA has this idea in mind in planning the second section of the Winter Course Talks for this year. When the present "Microphone Round Table" series is over on Wednesday evenings, 3YA will begin on August 7 at 7.32 p.m. a series called "Things As Seen" by artists of various kinds. The introductory session will be called "Things As Seen By An. Artist," with a panel of speakers, Then will follow "Things As Seen By An Architect," by a Sculptor, by a Painter, by an Art Teacher, and so on, and finally in the tenth talk there will be a discussion on future trends in art. The idea, as we have said, will be to point out to listeners that art in one form or another enters into all walks of life, and that we are surrounded by various forms of it-by buildings, statuary, pictures, books, houses, even advertisements, for art does enter into the design and lay-out of an advertisement. These manifestations of art reflect the mind and the mode of our life and they mean more than a lot of things that many of us think are more important. We in New Zealand may be judged in the future less by what we export in butter and cheese and frozen lamb than by what we really did with the cultural opportunities of this new country. e A strong panel of speakers has been engaged for this series of talks at 3YA. It includes R. S. D. Harman, a wellknown Christchurch architect, F. A.

Shurrock, a member of the staff of the School of Art, L. H. Booth, the wellknown black-and-white artist and portrait painter, Sydney Thompson, one of the most gifted artists New Zealand has produced, and Dr. John Guthrie, who has long shown a keen interest in the cultural life of Christchurch.