‘Walkers Art Club’ Student Art Exhibition Opens at the National Gallery

The National Gallery’s latest exhibition features work by over 100 young artists who are recent graduates from their 2024/2025 Walkers Art Club afterschool programme. The exhibition, which marks the end of another inspiring semester, features over 120 works of art ranging from drawing and painting to mixed media and ceramics. It will be on display in the National Gallery Dart Auditorium until 18 July 2025 and is open to the public at no cost.

Walkers Art Club (the “Club”), which is in its 24^th year, is supported annually by Walkers and it offers an unparalleled opportunity for 5-years-olds to teens to engage in a weekly arts curriculum. Designed to provide an inspiring learning opportunity for students from a mixture of public and private schools, the Club enables participants to build authentic relationships and long-term connections with colleagues from other schools. Students engage in creative expression and skill development, build confidence, engage in a wider understanding of local and global art history and museum work, and have the chance to learn more about Cayman’s unique culture and heritage. Over the past year the Club has supported 115 students, across 19 schools (including home-schooled students), in over 280 Art Club sessions.

The 2024-25 programme has been no exception, with students learning a wide variety of studio skills, such as watercolour, gouache, acrylic paint, ink drawings, pastels, collage, clay sculpture and busts, ceramics and glazing, gradients and blending, weaving, perspective drawing, portraiture, neurographic drawing, fashion design, lino block printmaking, impasto and 3D painting, figure drawing and pointillism. Taught concepts have included observational drawing, positive and negative space, still life, two-point perspective value scales and calligraphy techniques, many of which are reflected in the students’ artwork throughout the exhibition. In addition, students engage with the National Gallery’s current exhibitions to learn about museum work, curating, and careers in the arts and heritage sector.

Speaking at the opening reception, Walkers’ representative Prasana commended the students for the remarkable creativity on display and confirmed that Walkers were thrilled to have supported such a meaningful programme over so many years. She noted, “Walkers Art Club provides students the opportunity to develop their creativity and to interact socially with a range of peers from widely different backgrounds. It also continues to provide a platform for working with diversity and inclusion experts in our community, to ensure accessibility for students of all learning abilities. Parents, students and instructors speak about the programme as being ‘a nurturing environment’, ‘a fantastic experience’, and ‘a source of pride and confidence for the students’, which affirms the powerful and lasting impact of the Club.”

Speaking on behalf of the National Gallery, Director Natalie Urquhart added, “We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Walkers for their remarkable 24-year sponsorship of the Club. Through their partnership, we have been able to remove barriers to the programme and ensure that admission is free for all participants.  We also extend a big thank you to our Club coordinator Lori Peterson, and instructors Alyssa McLauglin and Tyra Banks with support from Education Intern Gianna Whittaker for creating and leading engaging and culturally relevant lessons. Thank you to Inclusion Cayman for their support and guidance in the classroom, and finally to all our students and their families for your commitment and creativity over the past year.”

The 120 artworks currently on display are only a fraction of the artwork that has been produced and more will feature in the Walkers Art Club Online Exhibition, which will be live on the National Gallery website in August 2025. The online commitment helps to showcase the talent and creative work of the students to a wider audience and creates a permanent record of their achievements.

The Walkers Art Club exhibition is currently open from Monday to Saturday from 10:00am to 5:00pm, and admission is free. For more information about Walkers Art Club and how to apply please email programmes@nationalgallery.org.ky or call 945 8111. Applications for the 2025/2026 programme open on 15 August and is filled on a first come first serve basis.