Ruth Freeman (née Butchart)

My knowledge of the formation of this school is hazy but from the information received from my father at the time, I believe the headmistress, Miss Gladys Good, had always felt such a school was needed to allow children with artistic ability an opportunity to find a niche in society. From her experiences these talents were being lost, as the children concerned more often than not ended up leaving high schools only to work as shop assistants or hairdressers, never reaching their full potential. She apparently found a lot of resistance to her dream but finally was given the green light with the proviso that she included some basic academic subjects in the curriculum.

Prior to starting my years at the Girls Central Art School, I was a student at the Presbyterian Girls College (now Seymour College). Thoughts of what I would do as a career did not enter my head. As I commenced the Leaving year with no plans as to what I would do, my parents thought it was time some decision was come to. Having shown an aptitude towards art and having done well in the subject in the Intermediate exams it was decided that teaching art was to be my career. In consultation with Miss Good it was decided two years at the GCAS would give me a good grounding to then go on to study at the Teachers Training College.

In the year 1946 the Art School and GCAS were situated on North Terrace. Together they occupied what had been the old warehouse of John Martins. Rooms had been partitioned off and were shared between the general students and those of the GCAS. One often sensed that this school was only barely tolerated by the more mature students and their teachers.

The school was divided into four years of study, with the subjects varying as students progressed. First year was like an introduction to the basic skills of drawing and not too much emphasis on detail. Self expression in drawing, clay modelling and craft work were the main themes.

In second year subjects became more formal with the introduction of subjects such as design, letter writing, poster drawing, object drawing, clay modelling and history of art.

Third year was an extension of the previous year with more detail and more difficult projects. Still art with oil paints was introduced, plant drawing, and also the modelling of clay face masks and separate features of the body – the foot, skull, hands, lips, ears and nose.

I suppose third year was more a natural progression, as experience grew the finished products appeared more difficult. A higher standard of work was set, for example in design – all over patterns as for wallpaper and dress fabric and circular repeating designs for plates using ancient Greek, Roman or Egyptian motifs. Imagination was needed and developed to create in ‘design-form’ – birds, animals, trees, flowers rather than using their natural form. We developed a sense of what colours produced a pleasing effect to the eye and how to mix colours to achieve the desired effect.

In clay modelling lessons, we were shown how to do every step toward producing plaster casts of masks, with this came the responsibility of using boiling wax to form the mould. This subject was one of my great joys, with a real sense of achievement and satisfaction in seeing the end result, especially if it was close to the original that it was copied from. In hindsight I realise what a great grounding this was for a good knowledge of the human anatomy.

In academic subjects, by third year, from memory they were limited to the history of art which was with Miss Mary P. Harris, who made the subject so enjoyable. As a person she was a very likeable soul, always so quietly spoken and with the ability to make the subject live. I do remember her taking us for English in second year bookwork. My hazy memory seems to recall that academic study was mostly in the first and second years and only existed in a very limited form.

One sensed that a large proportion of the children had for this reason chosen the GCAS and, because of their lack of interest toward those subjects, one might say they would have caused too much of a problem if it had been insisted on too heavily. I believe it was more at the insistence of the department that the few academic subjects were part of the curriculum.

My knowledge of fourth year was minimal as, after the third year, I started my year of junior teaching. I was to spend this year under the guidance of Miss Good and the other teachers of that era who all had been my teachers the year before and, of course, the students – my school mates! Not really a good idea in hind sight.

During the Christmas break the whole of the Art School was uprooted and moved to the Exhibition Building which no longer exists but was adjacent to the South Australian Institute of Technology on the corner of Frome Road and North Terrace.

It was during this time that I realised I was not cut out to be a teacher and after some time of consideration decided to resign and took up a career in commercial art. My reasons for not becoming a teacher probably began when I left PGC. Most of my friends had left school after finishing Intermediate and gone into the workforce or were finishing off at commercial colleges. Leaving school during the second term of fourth year, only to start again at the second year level, and taking academic subjects that I had done two years earlier was like a backward step, so when it came to the thought of many more years to follow before I actually began a teaching course and then some more before I earned a wage; more or less, with the staff and an enforcer of discipline to the students who the year before had considered me one of them, I found all too hard. Doubts of my ability to control a class, and to impart an artistic gift I may have, had started to grow.

I often wonder if I had been able to learn the skills of imparting knowledge first and then done a year as a junior teacher at the end rather than being thrown to the wolves, so to speak at the beginning, things may have turned out differently.

I have not regretted the path I took and found the years spent in those early school years have influenced many of the tasks I have taken on. What I learned has benefited me in countless ways through my life whilst at work and then in married life as a mother and even now as a grand-parent, at the age of 66, I still use some of the skills I gained.

I recall the life at the school as one of a small close knit group of young girls from all metropolitan areas, girls who came from all classes of families who, through their common interest in art, seemed to mix happily with each other. Each year group socialised mostly with the girls of that class.

Being within the city we would often eat our lunches on the lawns along North Terrace, sometimes venturing into Rundle Street to do a little shopping. It was really quite amazing that there was never any problem with behaviour, especially as there were no grounds in which to play sport. We would have the occasional excursion to, for example, the News Ltd and any art displays in town.

I remember one way we students would let off a little steam. When the teacher wasn’t looking small lumps of clay would be heaved to the ceiling of the modelling room and of course, when the clay dried out later, down would drop the hardened clay sometimes on the teacher – naturally this was frowned on.

I don’t know too much about the education system now but can see that the effect seems to be channelling most students down the same paths of academic careers. The system in the 1940s allowed the opportunity for those with hand skills rather than brain to experience within the schools’ various options so that when the time came to join the work force they were not left behind. They had some sense of worth, whereas today they seem to be lost to the work force and left to aimlessly walk the streets.

The hands-on skills I achieved, to some degree, have not been used to their full but pop up in all manner of means in the everyday pursuits such as handcrafts around the home and gifts. I do see them as skills for living that make life fuller through the appreciation of things artistic – the enjoyment of things of beauty – scenery, colours, paintings, music, crafts – art of any form.

I thank my dad for encouraging me in the direction I took, even though I may have disappointed him in my final achievements. He had always wished to pursue his art as a career but, owing to the years away at the first World War, never reached his dream. Perhaps he saw me fulfilling that dream for him!

My children both went to Brighton Primary School and then to Seacombe High. They naturally were co-ed and probably differed greatly in that respect from my schooling. I’m sure there were areas where this helped in their development but in many ways the distraction of the opposite sex must have impeded concentration I believe.

Both enjoyed their schooling and were involved in the music side of school life. My daughter went on to do a BA of Music in the performing arts. My son, foregoing his music, went on to an Honours Degree in Computer Science. There was tremendous opportunity for companionship and shared experience amongst those children learning a musical instrument. Camps, concerts, musical productions – joint efforts – helped the less talented grow and achieve.

Of course that was also during a time of the country’s economic stability, when teachers were not so stressed and money did not determine all. They were the years between 1965 and 1977.

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