“Buy Me Something,” a photography exhibition by 2002 George School graduate Nat Ward, is currently on view in Walton Center Gallery at George School. A closing reception will be held on the last day of the show, Wednesday, October 7, 2009, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Composed of fourteen large color photographs, the exhibition is intended to examine the ways in which children become consumers of toys, and the values they learn in the process. Images include store displays for children, girls playing with dolls, a boy playing with a toy soldier, boys at a video arcade, and various close-ups of children’s toys.

“My hope is that these images challenge people to consider how toys and the mechanisms that facilitate their sale inform and reproduce a distinct set of culturally defined values,” said Nat. He noted that the photographs were inspired by a childhood experience in which his parents offered to buy him a toy, and he was unable to choose one from the shelves in the store. “I had no idea what I actually wanted,” recalled Nat. “Given the freedom by my parents to choose any one thing out of everything, I was overwhelmed by the opportunity to consume.”

“Buy Me Something” has also been exhibited at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, from which Nat graduated with a BFA. The recipient of the Leon and Michaela Constantiner Fellowship and the Seth Tobias Award from Tisch, Nat has exhibited his work at galleries in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Germany, and Luxembourg.

“Buy Me Something” is the first of seven exhibitions organized by the George School Arts Department during the 2009-10 year. The Arts Department offers classes in visual and performing arts, including photography, digital imaging, video production, woodworking and design, communication design, painting and drawing, ceramics, stagecraft, theater arts, theater performance, musical theater, dance, vocal and instrumental performance, and music theory, with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate course options.

For more information about the arts at George School, and a complete schedule of exhibitions, visit http://www.georgeschool.org/arts.

About George School
Founded in 1893 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George School, a rigorous coed boarding and day school for grades nine through twelve, educates students from twenty-one states, thirty-two foreign countries, and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. Through its commitment to diversity and the Quaker values of equality, integrity, and peacemaking, George School inspires students to be led by their own truths while respecting and appreciating opinions and beliefs different from their own. George School was one of the first schools in the United States to implement an International Baccalaureate diploma program. For information about admission, please call 215.579.6547 or visit http://www.georgeschool.org.