Jill Smith

This is a very depressing read. Not dark and depressing. Dark hides things: colorful things, black things, grey things, white things, scary things, pretty things, monster things, unicorns, spice worms and who knows what else. This? This is just grey. Everything's the same color. Even human emotions seem grey and bland, the whole planet Earth is colorless, "I don't give a shit" place. Like I said, grey and depressing. In my opinion.

I get now why the book is written in Present Tense. Silvers live in the present and process everything accordingly. They don't think "what's next", they get through one moment at a time, tho conceivably, I think, Imms is capable of extending his mind that way, just like he expanded on his feelings after moving to Earth...

Which, sadly, is the most depressing part of the book for me. I loved Silver Planet much better, even with human team being bullies (put mildly) and B "The Captain" being a complete push-over. WHO in their right mind selected and put together those idiots? Oh... right.

One and a half positive stars for the amazing world of Silver Planet and Imms. The rest I can't care less.
… (més)

It is interesting that biographies of New Zealand art educators Gordon Tovey and Peter Smith have been written by family members. I shall look forward to biographies of both being written by someone else in the future. I enjoyed reading this book immensely even although I was frustrated that Peter Smith's 'life' was not covered very fully. I found the first person statements by the author intrusive but understandable.
There seemed to be an undercurrent of disapproval of Gordon Tovey's contribution as an art educator in New Zealand which wasn't explained.
In spite of these quibbles, I am delighted to know more bout a man and an art educator who contributed so much to the teaching of art in New Zealand schools and indeed to the development of fine teachers.
It is not easy to write about the developments in the area of curriculum and Jill Smith manages this without becoming boring. Maybe a table of these developments might be a supplementary help in the future. The photographs of Peter Smith's work, students involved in 'doing' art, groups of teachers and administrators are informative and well-labelled, Both the index and the References are helpful for the reader.… (més)