John Baldock

Search terms: painting, oil, watercolour, watercolor, acrylic, ink wash, collage, gouache, abstract, landscape

About the Artist

John is an artist, an art teacher, an art coach, a writer, counsellor, consultant and a life coach. He has more than 40 years experience as an artist (more than 20 solo exhibitions) and school teacher at all levels.  John studied art in London and Derby, worked in the UK and Singapore before settling in Australia. He has taught painting and drawing at Claremont School of Art. At present he conducts classes in the Visual Arts at Alpha Studios in Wattle Grove and continues to exhibit his work.

John has written:

"The late Peter Sellers did a brilliant skit where he acted as a music teacher with a new pupil. He showed the student middle C as a start but the student protested 'No! No! I don't want that. I promised my wife I would play her the Moonlight Sonata for her birthday on the weekend'."

"Today, art education follows fashion and it is unfashionable to start anything at the level of middle C. Pedagogical knowledge is not given high priority. Art students are generally invited to partake at the level of the Moonlight Sonata, muddling through on an ad hoc basis to graduation."

"An essential part of my practice is to place fashion in art into perspective. This means I start at middle C with the note being tuned to current concerns. These concerns equate with the marks a person makes in relation to true type, thus providing a readiness to undertake a journey of discovery into creative art practice."

"In my own practice and working on a one to one basis with clients, I endeavour to compress time and encourage instinctual response to arrive at a moment of readiness recognised mutually by both the client and myself. This is done by counselling and consultation. This readiness is essential in teaching a child to read and is also essential in making those marks that mirror type. As in reading, progress under the guidance of an expert teacher can be rapid. An adequate pedagogy based on research is essential."

To read a review of the 1999 exhibition by John and three of his students please click here.