Visual Art

Visual Art is an integral part of the Arts programme on offer at Wellesley. When each boy walks through the art room door, he is encouraged to explore and discover his creativity by taking risks, trying new things and working through his mistakes.

We remind our boys that to live a creative life, they must lose the fear of being wrong. We aim to instill in them the idea that they are all artists and that each of them is innately creative – art classes are all about tapping into that creativity and expressing their unique ideas and their unique selves.

All our boys enjoy the opportunity to learn new techniques in drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, digital art, photography and printmaking.

Why the arts for boys?

Being passionate about something ignites the mind, body and spirit of a person. Passions do not segregate by gender, ethnicity or age. In fact, being passionate about something brings vitality to our life and electrifies the soul. Our boys at Wellesley are no different. Every day, each boy comes to school with interests and passions that range from Minecraft to motorbikes. But how do we know what each boy’s current passions are? It begins by listening carefully and understanding what is making each boy ‘tick’. Understanding the factors that make him special and showing empathy and care in the learning cycle. An iterative and reflective process where boys need boundaries, high expectations and support that is targeted at the right level, to enable him to discover his best every day and have some hard fun! In the visual Arts we teach our boys about colour, layout, perspective, and balance: all techniques that are necessary in presentations (visual, digital) of academic work. It weaves our values of perseverance and risk taking in learning into each lesson and gives the boys every opportunity to excel.

Every other year, we organise an Artist in Residence. This is where a current artist comes to Wellesley, working on site with our boys, it  shows a pathway to be an artist. This culminates in Art Week where the entire school engages in making art for three days, allowing the boys the opportunity to have their pieces exhibited alongside our resident artist. What is great about this exhibition, is that no year levels are on the displayed pieces of work, meaning a Year 1 boy’s work could be right beside a Year 8 boy’s work. Both are usually spectacular.