by Paolo Pace

March 1, 2000

'A Walk in the forest'
By Gemma Smith & Gary Smith

It isn't often that you can witness a software company giving their product away, much less to children but that is exactly what happened to Gordon Monk and the students of Danesholme Junior school.

Mr. Monk, a teacher at Danesholme, found himself looking for a graphics program that he could install on the school's new network. Lacking the necessary funds he was pleased when he came across a CD sample of Satori PhotoXL in a magazine. Finding this CD would prove to be the best thing that could happen to Monk and his students given that Spaceward Graphics' only condition was that they be able to showcase the children's work in their on-line gallery.

This meant that Gordon had to teach the children how to use it. Gordon stated, "Without this incentive I probably would not have planned a unit of work, but allowed the children to explore for themselves."

The vivid use of color and overall beauty of these children's illustrations are astounding! Spurred by what I saw I asked if the children were more encouraged to create given this new medium, the answer was, "Very encouraged - a breadth of palette is given them that they havent yet learned how to mix. They also avoid the practical difficulties of handling paint and finding they havent viscosity - they havent the skill to produce these pictures as paintings, if they make a mistake with paint they cannot remove it".

Surprisingly it only took the children 4 sessions (1hour) to learn how to use the effects, layers and other features. 2 sessions producing the easier pictures and 3-4 sessions on the more complex pieces. I was of course curious if the ages of the children and their aesthetic abilities were a surprise to Monk, his response was no less surprising!

"For their final picture the children were given postcards of paintings by *Henri Rousseau as a starting point, then they went about interpreting these paintings in their own way. The influence of *Rousseau is clearly visible, but what they produced is definitely childrens art."

 
The Sleeping Gypsy
Henri Rousseau 1897.

 
The Sleeping Gypsy
By Laura Strachan

Unfortunately, the children could not all work independently on their own pieces as there were only 15 workstations and about 28 children.

"We are lucky to have this number, some schools have 3 children to a computer, some have 28! Fortunately the older children (10 and 11's) worked well together, the problems with some of the domineering children was balanced by how the less confident ones were drawn on by a partner. Some children are fine alone" said Monk.

Gordon's overall impression of the children's ability? "Some children are obviously more able than others. Generally children need a stimulus; if asked to produce a picture without one, a lot of children would be lost. Children, whatever the age can produce some outstanding work, but it depends on the stimulus."

With more and more children getting on the computer, being exposed to new technology and expressing their artistic talents online, I asked how he saw the future of art and design for these children?

"Computer technology is about design and these children hopefully will develop a critical eye for design. Art is another subject."

With plenty of enthusiasm and natural talent at their fingertips the children were ready to create their own pieces inspired by Rousseau's work. They spent about 4 or more hours on their final picture.

 "Once they understood what the program could do: how they could work on different layers, how they could edit mistakes, of what the finished piece should look like, they were motivated". 

Motivated seemed like an understatement given the level of proficiency their work displayed. 

"There were frustrating times: while files, which had become extremely large, were loading or rendering, or when the program froze, but overall they were pleased with the result. Having the pictures appear on Satoris website certainly made those children whose work was selected very proud. I am very grateful to Satori for presenting me with the incentive to spur the children on."

We too are extremely thrilled to have had the opportunity to see this work and to have had the opportunity to have spoken with Gordon Monk. Our sincere thanks and congratulations go out to all of you who participated at Danesholme Junior School and to the staff at Spaceward Graphics for creating a tool as powerful as Satori PhotoXL v2.29.

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*Rousseau, Henri, known as Le Douanier (Customs Officer) Rousseau (1844-1910). French painter, the most celebrated of nave artists. Before this he had served in the army, and he later claimed to have seen service in Mexico, a fact that remains to be proven and widely thought to be a product of his imagination. He took up painting as a hobby and accepted early retirement in 1893 so he could devote himself to art.

His character was extraordinarily ingenuous and he suffered much ridicule as well as enduring great poverty. However, his faith in his own abilities never wavered. It was the innocence and charm of his work that won him the admiration of the avant-garde: in 1908 Picasso gave a banquet in his honor. Rousseau is now best known for his jungle scenes, the first of which is Surprised! (Tropical Storm with a Tiger) (National Gallery, London, 1891) and the last The Dream (MOMA, New York, 1910). These two paintings are works of great imaginative power, in which he showed his extraordinary ability to retain the utter freshness of his vision even when working on a large scale and with loving attention to detail. He claimed such scenes were inspired by his experiences in Mexico, but in fact his sources were illustrated books and visits to the zoo and botanical gardens in Paris.

His other work ranges from the jaunty humor of The Football Players (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1908) to the mesmeric, eerie beauty of The Sleeping Gypsy (MOMA, 1897). Rousseau was buried in a pauper's grave, but his greatness began to be widely acknowledged soon after his death.

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Copyright 2000, Paolo Pace, All Rights Reserved