the wellington college year book 2010/2011
Erin O’Sullivan
Salt ’n’ Pepper
58
Contemporary Aboriginal Art
Hamilton directed Gut Girls, set in the East
End of London in the late nineteenth century;
this story of economics and class was a great
opportunity for those pupils not usually
involved in drama productions to come out
of comfort zones and see what they could do;
the results were excellent. The production
of Frost?/Nixon was really quite astonishing.
Polymath and Arts Colours with Distinction
recipient Illias Thoms did a splendid job as
director, capturing the 1970s, along with the
compelling relationship between the then
president and a young, ambitious David Frost;
it was simply ‘electric’?!
A wonderful Dance Show saw an array
of both traditional and contemporary dance
styles and it is really wonderful to see dance
becoming such a major arts discipline at
Wellington, involving so many of our pupils.
Music continues to delight with myriad
concerts, master classes and recitals. The
Mini Music Festival was a really extraordinary
five days and was a chance to celebrate the
breadth and depth of music at Wellington.
We imbibed and enjoyed everything, including the coats (Crowthorne Old Age to Teen
Society) Concert, a truly memorable evening
of jazz and big band music which saw a now
ongoing collaboration between musicians at
Edgbarrow and Wellington come to fruition. Truly mesmerising! The annual SingerSongwriter concert in Old Hall was simply
superb; it’s truly heart-warming to listen to
our pupils performing with such talent and
skill. Speaking of which, having stood at the
back of a Wellington College Orchestra open
rehearsal during the Mini Music Festival, I was
totally blown away by the sheer quality of
playing by our pupils; astonishing?!
Visual Art got off to a wonderful start with
the Stitchin’ Time textiles exhibition in the now
established arts venue the v&a. Art textiles
is a very strong suit for the visual arts at
Wellington and it’s a joy to see pupils working
in such an extraordinary array of media. The
first Prep Schools Art Day was a resounding
success, with nearly seventy pupils taking part,
using the theme ‘Celebration’, it was a chance
for year five and six pupils to use an array of
media on canvas and eat what they had been
drawing and painting: sweets and chocolate?
!
What made the day particularly successful
was the help given by our Art Scholars and
Exhibitioners who were on hand to offer
advice, show our guests around the Art School
and generally be excellent ambassadors for the
arts. The Inter-House Art Competition, even
though only in its second year, reached new
heights of daring and experimentation and it
was great to see all houses put such Herculean
effort into turning houses into art galleries for
the weekend. Title holders The Orange won
‘Best House’ for the second year running.
The Arts Society arrived, beautifully
formed, with pupils reading poetry and short
stories, performing songs they had written