Page 137 - Constructing Craft

Valley in 1943. In 1944 the Hutt Valley (Primary) Headmasters’ Association lobbied

to be allocated facilities so that all the schools in their area might become part of the
programme. The scheme was expanded and for six years Blumhardt travelled the

country running courses for teachers, head teachers and inspectors and sourcing
scarce materials.

Doreen Blumhardt. Photo: Creative New Zealand: Arts Council
of New Zealand.

Gordon Tovey

In 1946 Beeby appointed Gordon Tovey, whose background was teaching painting

at the tertiary level, to the position of Supervisor of Arts and Crafts at the
Department of Education with a mandate to promote the scheme in primary

schools. Blumhardt and Tovey both recognised the importance of art and craft in
schools, but Tovey was not convinced that Blumhardt’s emphasis on craft was, in

the long term, the correct emphasis for the future of art in New Zealand ‒ although

he recognised it as a useful vehicle to change teachers’ attitudes. Tovey, an artist,
remained a cultural élitist imbued with the cultural capital that position carried. To

some extent, this perpetuated the policy confusion that already existed – were art
and craft pedagogical devices or subjects to be taught?

Constructing Craft