College Record 2019

The most important development in respect
to the College’s own art collections was a
very generous and exciting loan by Christian
and Florence Levett, of four works. These
stunning paintings in oil and acrylic, both
abstract and semi-figural, are the product
of different generations of leading African
artists: the octogenarian Ghanaian painter
Ablade Glover (a monumental figure in
modern West African art), the Ethiopian
Wosene Kosrof, and two works by Beninborn
Dominique Zinkpe. The three larger
paintings now hang in the Haldane Room,
with the smaller, jewel-like Kosrof in the
Upper Common Room. These loans are
visually transformative and also stand
powerfully for the global character of
Wolfson. We are extremely grateful for the
opportunity to display and live with them.
The Arts Society has benefited this year from
the advice and encouragement of the new
Creative Arts Fellow, the visual artist Carey
Young, who gave a lecture on her recent
work in February, ‘Subject to Contract: An
Artist’s Explorations of Business, Politics and
Law’. But we have also been sorry to see
two departures. In January Mark Norman
stood down after more than nine years as
Chair of the Arts Sub-Committee, and a
few weeks later we said goodbye to him as
he left the committee and headed for the
Channel Islands. Mark’s calm wisdom and his
experience as former Head of Conservation
at the Ashmolean Museum were invaluable
for the work of the Arts Society. It came
as a tremendous shock to all of us to learn
that Mark had died suddenly this autumn,
only months after leaving Oxford. In January
Jan Scriven retired as Arts Administrator, a
role that she had performed for more than
six years, after standing down as College
Secretary in 2013. We will miss Jan’s energy
and expertise, but are delighted to welcome in
her place Luisa Summers, who comes from a
background in art history and administration at
Modern Art Oxford and the Hayward Gallery.
Luisa’s skills and vision have already made an
impact as we plan ahead for 2019/20.
BarCo
by Nameerah Khan
The College Cellar Bar has
had an eventful year. It began
with Freshers’ Week, when
we held several events including a pub
quiz, karaoke, beer pong, and were part of
a college pub crawl. This piqued interest in
the bar among the freshers, many of whom
joined the rota to be part of this amazing
student-run bar, with inductions being held
in both Michaelmas and Hilary. We hosted
various events throughout the year, including
several highly successful bops and a gig by
a Lithuanian folk singer in conjunction with
Wolfson Internal Entz. BarCo also hosted an
open mic night, two charity pub quizzes for
AMREF, a Star Wars-themed event for May
the 4th, and a charity karaoke for the Nasio
Trust.
Trinity Term saw the formation of a new
Bar Committee, and we have a full Social
Sub-committee for the first time in years.
We look forward to many more exciting
events in coming months. Throughout the
past year, BarCo has been taking suggestions
to diversify our drinks collection: we now
have a wide variety of new choices such as
whiskies from India and Wales, beer from
Jamaica, and several new non-alcoholic
options (including two non-alcoholic beers).
The bar is also being updated, with several
old pieces of equipment being replaced by
new and more efficient ones. Members of
BarCo have come up with various signature
cocktails – some of which were slightly
more popular than others. Among the most
beloved were the SpongeBob, the Dagobah
and of course the Tincture of Wolfblood.
We look forward to another exciting year
ahead, and are always looking for ways to
make the bar an inclusive, safe and fun place
for the Wolfson community.
REPORTS
WOLFSON.OX.AC.UK
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