From the Head of School

The halls of Winsor are adorned with oranges and pomegranates, tiny outfits on clay models, folded paper that spins into the background and disappears, siblings and parents artfully captured on film, self-portraits of restraint and abundance, glorious colors and simple pencil sketches. Our rehearsal studios and black box theater bustle with recitals, chamber music concerts, after-school musicians, and student-directed plays. Our main theater comes alive with sweeping concerts, dance performances, plays, and musicals performed with students from our brother schools. Winsor is fortunate to be surrounded by world-class museums, theaters, and concert halls, but within our own walls, we put every student on stage and in the art studio beginning in Class I. The result is intelligent, awe-inspiring art everywhere you look.

Strolling through the recently renovated attic art studio is like returning to the 19th century, with the leaded-glass windows and wide, paint-splattered floorboards. It smells of turpentine and radiates creative energy. Students draw, paint, shape, and fold, still very much in the 21st century as they wrestle with current questions about the environment, their own sense of identity, and the nature of community while learning about light and shadow, materials and technique.

Art, in all its manifestations, has always been a significant part of the Winsor experience, but for over two years, the pandemic disrupted our students’ consistent and rich access to that part of their education. Required distancing made instruction on technique challenging, limited access to art spaces, and restricted the performing arts to recording and editing together individual pieces. And yet, our students continued to receive awards and recognition, including a Scholastic Art Gold Medal Portfolio Award and an invitation to travel and perform at the National Association for Music Education annual conference. Our young artists may have faced challenges, but they persevered, and expressed themselves through spectacular works of art.

The sheer joy we’re experiencing being together again, with new student art on the walls, rehearsal spaces abuzz, and performances in our theater — this, maybe above all else, confirms we are back as a community, ready to celebrate one another. Our students bring the skills they hone, and the joy of creating as a community, into everything they do. And as you will see in this issue of the Bulletin, our graduates go on to grace the world with extraordinary creations. You will read about alumnae who delight and challenge audiences and viewers, and help us make sense of the world around us. You will learn what moves and inspires them. Prepare to be inspired!

—Sarah Pelmas