We were honoured yesterday to visit the Millenium Wing of the National Gallery with Bro. Fred to see his portrait in the Zurich Young Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition.

Mathews Pascoal De Leon (Leaving Certificate student 2019) described his portrait in the following words:

'My portrait is of Brother Fred Rech who founded the school that I have just graduated from. He is a very special and inspirational person. He has enriched the lives of many students including myself. Through my drawing of him I wanted to capture the sense of his very gentle and wonderful character."

The exhibition space was packed with people and nervous energy when we arrived. It was an emotional and overwhelming experience for Fred passing through the crowd to stand in front of his portrait. Fred had time to catch up with Mathews and here all about college life. I could see the grandfatherly pride in Fred's eyes for Mathews achievement and his kind words that accompanied the portrait.

Ms. Conti had time to talk to Mathews and his mother about his learning journey. Mathews traveled from Brazil to Ireland with his family and had to leave behind his extended family and friends. Starting a new school is always difficult but the art room became a haven for Mathews to draw quietly and it was the attention that his art attracted that drew (pun intended) many new friends to him as he negotiated a new country and a new language.

Teachers create learning environments for students to flourish and Ms. Conti's peaceful awareness of the guidance and encouragement that senior art students need is also framed in Mathews' portrait of Fred.

In the corner of the exhibition there is a wall of sticky post its. The exhibition opened at the weekend and visitors have been thinking about the question 'What is a portrait?'

-the expression of your soul

-a person's soul captured on canvas

-a person's essence

-a peek inside yourself

-an old fashioned selfie

I'm sure Fred is happy to have an old fashioned selfie of himself in the National Gallery and the exhibition will travel to the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork in January. And we were glad to have a peek into how Mathews understands Fred and his contribution to our school and lives.

Congratulations to Mathews and Ms. Conti. We are proud of ye.

The exhibtion is free to visit and it runs until the 12th of January.

Fred is pictured here with Mathews, Ms. Conti, Mathews mother and one of the judges Hetty Lawlor (runner up in SKY Portrait Artist of the Year).