Well, i’ve arrived in the countryside after 3 and a half hot hours in the car… wading through the boxes that have taken over my old bedroom in my parents house, i came across a “Book of Knowledge” something i picked up last year in Notting Hill Book exchange (i’ve spent many hours in thier 50p bargain basement). Flicking through it to brush up for the village pub quiz on sunday, i thought back to the ‘general knowledge’ classes at the stuffy primary school i attended. Their teaching methods were a far cry from those promoted by Froebel, with dictation and copying vast texts being their most imaginative way to force knowledge into our brains. Judging by our performance at the last pub quiz, it certainly didnt prove to be a very effective method.
The way Froebel taught is in a sense how i have come to learn as an artist, how materials react, can be manipulated, and how to investigate an idea, show my concepts through form and function. I feel very drawn, not only to his theories, but to the ‘gifts’ Froebel created. Their simplicity and tactility really appeal to me and i cant quite get them out of my head. So many of today’s childhoods are filled with fancy, branded, plastic toys that inevitably break the minute they are really played with, and there is truth in the thought that children are usually more interested in the box the gift comes in. I guess thats because its almost a blank canvas – it can become anything, a car, a boat, an aeroplane, a lab for making potions in, or simply a secret fort. Its the imagination that is pleased by a simple box. There in little room for creativity with a Spykee Micro Bot thing….
