We need to draw on our untapped ability

I am a good drawer and have been since I was a teenager.

Last year, I worked in Presentation College, Carlow, doing a Percent for Art commission called SCHOOLWORK. Presentation is a secondary school. I offered to teach the students life drawing. I did classes with the third-years. Presentation has 20% foreign students — many of them Polish, all of whom could draw, many exceptionally. They could draw better than most Irish adults, even some who have been to art college.

The Polish students had done an hour of drawing a week in primary school in Poland, in addition to an hour a week of crafts. They had a specialised art teacher; they had specialist teachers in everything. These Polish students show that drawing is not innate; it can be taught. My drawing ability is the result of a misspent youth. I failed my Leaving Cert, but I got an A in art.