A Gift of Art

Generous donor hopes to inspire creativity and conversation

Thanks to a generous gift from Belinda Kielland ’77, seven works of modern art will now be on display throughout the Hilltop.

Ms. Kielland is president of the board of trustees at Independent Curators International, a nonprofit arts organization based in New York, and was previously the cofounder of OSL contemporary, an art gallery in Oslo, Norway.

A passionate follower of the contemporary art world, Ms. Kielland said she wished to donate the works of art to St. George’s to inspire students and faculty alike “to look at creative production through a different lens than the tradition of representational art that often surrounds us.”

“These pieces are by international artists working in a variety of mediums, each engaging the viewer through abstraction,” she added. “I’ve always thought that abstraction is like a landscape of an artist’s mind — inviting contemplation and interpretation.

The works include:

 Two paintings by the Bulgarian-born artist Iva Gueorguieva, who now makes her home in Los Angeles:

• “Rider Entering the City” (acrylic, collage and oil on canvas) was completed in 2011 and is 8 feet tall and more than 6 feet wide.

• “Shipwrecker Muse” (acrylic, collage, dry pigment, and oil on canvas) was completed in 2012 and is nearly 6 feet square.

 “Volcano,” a framed work of ink on paper (30-9/10 x 421/10 inches) was completed in 2013 by the Norwegian artist Kristian Skylstad.

 A 2016 untitled work (49 x 50-1/2 x 2 inches) made with colored pencil, graphite, and paint on wood veneer by Cuban-born Ernesto García Sánchez.

 “Redactor XX” (enamel, pigment, cold wax, rubber, Mylar, tape, vinyl, aluminum, paper, canvas; 58 x 48 inches) by Ryan Wallace, who lives and works in Brooklyn and East Hampton, New York.

 “Life in Transition (picture of my room),” a 2010 work of acrylic on board (51-1/5 x 511/5 inches) by Turkish-born Haluk Akakçe, an artist now living and working in New York and Istanbul.

 “Heart (with Pearls),” a 1990–'91 etching (38 x 42 inches) by John Baldessari, a California artist who died in 2020. Mr. Baldessari was known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images.

“We are so delighted by Belinda’s amazing gift,” said Head of School Alixe Callen. “The opportunity for our students to be surrounded by art of this caliber is truly remarkable.”

The artwork, from Ms. Kielland’s private collection, was donated specifically to the art program at St. George’s and will be hung throughout classrooms in Memorial Schoolhouse and in the Academic Center atrium this spring.

“The arts are critical to an enriching academic environment, and I hope these works of art spark imagination and creative conversations on campus,” Ms. Keilland said.

Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department Ted Sturtevant said the department is “thrilled and humbled” by Ms. Kielland’s gift. “The paintings will be a welcome reference for classes discussing abstraction,” he said, “but along with that, the entire community will be enriched by the exposure to a more diverse collection of art as we pass through the halls and spaces the paintings will occupy.”

The arts program at St. George’s is deeply rooted in our history, he noted. From its founding, the school has benefited from our stunning surroundings, which include Paradise Valley, where American landscape painters have flocked as passionately as surfers to Second Beach.

“With this generous gift of paintings from Belinda Kielland ’77, our students will now have exposure to another world-class resource of contemporary work by notable 20th-century artists,” Mr. Sturtevant said.

Ms. Callen added: “Not only does this new artwork enhance the beauty of our campus, but it further elevates the arts as a subject of study. Thanks to Belinda’s generosity, our students have a greater understanding of what’s possible.”

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