Wellington College Art Collection Exhibition - Open Day

A celebration of Creativity and Visual Art.

Featuring works from past and present students, Art teachers and for the first time ever, exhibition of the Wellington College Art Collection.

Wellington College has always been a school that proudly supports the broadest range of learning opportunities for students, past and present. As a result, creativity has flourished within the school and continues to do so today, both through the students and talented visual arts teachers.

Many of you will not be aware this creative gene has left Wellington College with a rather impressive and significant legacy of great art, much by past students, many of whom have become rather famous artists.

“This wonderful collection of art has graced the walls around our school for many years, and we can take them rather for granted” - Deputy Principal, Rob Anderson. “It’s now time to showcase this impressive collection of artworks to our community, especially now that we have the right venue in which to show them off”.

The art collection, which has been skilfully curated by Mike Pallin (WC Archivist), includes work dating back to 1891 – with a painting of Wellington College by Christopher Aubrey. This painting was donated to the school in 1940 by Old Boy, Robert Fleming.

Other significant works include Peter McIntyre’s portrait of Old Boy, Lt. General Sir Bernard Freyberg – during WW2. Other artists within the collection are Old Boy, John Drawbridge, Edward (Bill) Luff, Joan Fanning, Nugent Welsh and Sir Michael Fowler.

The Wellington College Parents’ Association has partnered with the Visual Arts Department and the Archive team to bring this celebration of art and creativity to the school community. Parent Association spokesperson, Ali Brown notes, “I am sure I am not alone when I say, that until now, I had no idea the school had such a beautiful legacy of art”.

There is another exciting aspect to this event; not only will the legacy art collection be on show, but there will also be other art on display. Works created by our own talented art and visual design staff, many of whom are artists in their own right, will be available for sale.

Student work will also be exhibited. “Not surprisingly, the creativity of our students is really rather extraordinary, and we are proudly displaying their work at the exhibition” - Visual Arts Department Head, Jenny Caldwell.

Proudly Supported by: Just Paterson Real Estate