"Virginia Bloedel Wright's love of art started at Barnard College. Now she's giving back to the school with a gift in honor of a classmate and with a work of art,"writes The Wall Street Journal, in a profile piece highlighting the generosity of Trustee Emerita Jinny Wright.
The article appears less than a week before the College's Annual Scholarship Dinner and Auction taking place on April 6. In honor of her classmate and Barnard Professor Emerita Barbara Novak '50, Wright has donated $25,000 to support financial aid for Barnard students. In addition, Wright, who is a passionate art collector and longtime board member at the Seattle Art Museum, has given the College its first important piece of artwork, an engraved bench by conceptual artist Jenny Holzer.
"It seemed appropriate that I would give them something in the way of a work of art and Jenny Holzer, being a woman, it seemed appropriate. And a bench on the college campus seemed like an appropriate spot for it," Wright told The Wall Street Journal. Wright's granddaughter, senior Ada Potter '11, is an art history major at Barnard.
Illustration courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.