Wendy Finnegan (Killeen)

Attended Moseley School of Art 1958-61

My father was self  employed. My elder sister attended Handsworth  School of Dress Design. My brother, who attended King Edward’s Grammar School Camp Hill, did not approve of our artistic aspirations.

My journey to Moseley Art School required two buses each way and much walking.

The headmaster was Mr. Adams. Teachers included Miss (m/s was not then known) Pearson & Squires (very strict) and Mr Vlahovic

My friends included Sue Gee, Kendrick & unrequited love Heinz. The head girl Anne Brown was showing us the way by dating the head boy Keith Millichamp.

I remember long lunch hours, walks (or illicit bus, hiding from Miss Squires) to Moseley village for sports where I was in the netball team. I was expert at plaiting hair for the girls and the fashion of the day was sloppy Joe sweaters. The area around the school was seedy (no change there).

At the end of my three years at Moseley, the headmaster tried to persuade my parents to let me go to Art College where I had been accepted. They refused so I then went to Solihull College for a commercial course including general studies.

My career as a painter includes solo exhibitions in Dublin & Cork, which were reviewed in the national press. My work continues to be collected by private & corporate buyers. Commissions include a book cover & various commercial art projects. I also owned an art gallery in London for a couple of years where I met previous pupils of MSA, Peter Hayes (sculptor) and PR expert John Smith.  

My career was interrupted when I was wrongly diagnosed as having MS some 18 years ago. Now I have been diagnosed as having a variant of Lupus, which is treatable. This is a slow process of improvement and I am still in a wheel chair. I have continued painting (large expressionist canvases) although at a much slower pace, selling to private buyers, and I am currently building up work for another exhibition.