Farewell to Ms. Plesch

Ms. Plesch has been a steady, conscientious and reliable bedrock within the ISH Arts department for many years… an immense 30 years. She has seen the school grow, develop and change greatly while she gave her best in education all the way through, without exception.

The great care, attention and time she gave each student is admirable, and students who have passed through her classes have benefited from her wealth of experience and expertise, truly leaving ISH enriched from her lessons.

Her retirement is a huge loss of knowledge and skill in the Visual Arts department and a void has been created that is not easily filled.

ISH and the entire Performing and Visual Arts department, wish her all the best into the future with much health, relaxation and time spent enjoying life to the fullest.

Here’s a tribute by Visual Arts teacher, Mr. David Close.

 

 

 

 

Farewell to Ms. Plesch
By Mr. David Close
Teacher of Design Technology, Visual Arts and Theory of Knowledge

Oscar Wilde said that the sign of an educated person is the “ability to play gracefully with ideas.” I think this captures the essence of Gundula’s teaching both in the Visual Arts and Theory of Knowledge.

Many Art Teachers have aspirations to be Artists, Gundula however, is the opposite. She is an Artist who had aspirations to be a teacher. There is a difference here; it is her frame of mind that is significant. Let me explain:

In 1916 the Artist Marcel Duchamp exhibited a Urinal as an Artwork. One hundred and three years ago he challenged the concept of what an Artwork could be. The diversity of contemporary Art that followed has posed significant challenges to traditional Art teaching.

There would be resistance to this challenge.

Contemporary Art, became so diverse, from video to installation, to performance to multimedia and to conceptual art. Art could be anything and that was both bewildering and also a real challenge to classroom teaching.

While this challenged conventional Art teaching it was Gundula’s natural home.

The Art school she attended here in Hamburg had many significant visiting Artists. In this atmosphere there were no intellectual safe spaces. Quite the opposite, you were expected to be outstandingly good but no one defined what good meant. Ambiguity was deliberately used to drive individuals to re-define the form and content of Art. In this climate, Gundula not only succeeded, she won a scholarship to study in London.

On her return to Hamburg Gundula was involved with avante garde Art movements such as Fluxus. On one occasion creating an installation of whistling kettles, an orchestra that performed at random, as they created steam…an elegant idea that I wish I had seen.

Gundula’s significant contribution to the Visual Arts is that she brought that focus on contemporary art practice into the studio at ISH, long before it became accepted practice.

I know that the conceptual Artist Marcel Duchamp is one of Gundula’s choice artists. There is a similarity here, Duchamp did not look like our stereotype of an Artist, you might have mistaken him for an accountant, another grey suit…I think that sense of disguise appeals to her too. It is a disguise she has kept in place for 40 years...and I suspect she has quietly enjoyed the paradox.

So on behalf of this school and Art Education: thank you Gundula for your significant contribution to the diversity of visual artwork we see today.