Creating an art collection for a school library has been a dream of mine for a while now and I have so enjoyed starting my own collection over the past few years.

In my fourth job in school libraries, I had the privilege of stepping in to work at St Aidan’s School for a term while Megan Daley (yes, that Megan Daley) was on leave. It was an honour and amazing opportunity to step in for Megan and work with the amazing school library and Junior School team at St Aidan’s. I felt incredibly welcomed and looked after in that school.

I learnt a lot in my short time at the school, but what was especially obvious as soon as I stepped foot into the Junior Library space was the aesthetic that had been created. It was welcoming, relaxing, charming, and utterly beautiful. A lot of this was down to colour choices, layout, but a lot of the charm and beauty came from the incredible art collection on the walls. Megan had curated the most beautiful collection of pieces created by artists, many of them from children’s books and recognisable from favourite picture books. Megan actually came in one evening to switch some of the art around, replacing some with other pieces, something she obviously did regularly.

From working there, I knew that I too wanted to someday curate an art collection for my school library, once I had one to truly call my own.

My opportunity came two years later, when I took over as head of library at St Paul’s School and started preparations to move into our new library space, a place I could hang art on the walls. So, I started curating pieces.

My first piece came through one of the students. The Year 11 design class came into the old library to showcase their current projects. Most had cool but similar designs, acrylic headings, text, images, a graphic layout. But one student had something entirely different. His poster was a water colour of a fish and it was stunning. I asked him if he would paint something for the new library space. He said yes, but I didn’t follow up with him until a year later, when I connect with a family member at a school library conference of all places. Fortunately we did and we began to work on what the piece would be. I gave him a design brief and a few months later he presented to me the most incredible art piece entitled Submerged. I paid him for that piece and I treasure it. When I leave the school, it’s coming with me. I regret not asking him to paint more for me. I have no doubt his name will be famous soon. This was our first piece.

 

From there I purchased a beautiful bird piece from Tamsin Ainslie. I have two of her works now, including a piece for our makerspace. I recieved a beautiful illustration from Gecko Press from The Tiny Woman’s Coat painted by illustrator Giselle Clarkson.

 

 

A piece I found under my family members’s spare bed matches our seat fabric perfectly and I won a gorgeous print of Bat vs Poss from a CBCA raffle. Now I’m always on the lookout for where I can purchase illustrators’ works.

 

 

And I commissioned a piece from one of our past students, who is a proud First Nations woman. It hangs beautifully in our stairwell.

 

 

Of course, when we have visiting illustrators, I ask them if I can purchase some of their work, like we did when Chris Gooch, graphic novel artist and creator, visited, adding a print and painting to our collection.

 

 

Adding student work has really bolstered the collection and the students love seeing their work on display. Some are temporary displays, like when we had the year 10 work on display in the hallway, and others have taken up permanent residence. We’ve still got lots more walls to fill though, so I’m looking forward to adding to our collection. Hardest thing is getting the things hung though…need a better solution for that.

 

Purchasing a few pieces of art has also inspired our Junior School Library redesign and I am excited to share that with you soon.

Art is a powerful form of visual communication, just as relevant and important as any book on the shelf. It helps create an atmosphere within the space, one of welcome, curiosity, and creativity. I can’t wait to see how our art collection will continue to grow.