The Robert Aller Donation to the Rollin Art Centre

In 1995, Robert Aller donated 20 works of art, including four of his own paintings, to the Rollin Art Centre. This important group of Canadian paintings was the largest personal donation to the Centre, and marked the celebration of the Community Arts Council's thirtieth anniversary.

Robert Aller began his collection while he was enrolled as a student at the Vancouver School of Art in 1946. Many of the artists in his collection were personal friends or teachers, including George Clutesi, Fred Amess and Arthur Lismer.

Robert Aller has spent much of his life bringing people together. Beginning in 1958, he travelled to first nations communities, where he passed on his knowledge of traditional native arts and crafts. He has also taught art to women at the YWCA, and to boys and girls in a maximum security prison. Aller's donation to the Rollin Art Centre further demonstrates his lifelong commitment and generosity to the arts community.

Robert Aller is an accomplished artist in his own right. For many years, he travelled with his teacher, Arthur Lismer, on sketching trips to the beaches of the West Coast. He has studied at the Vancouver School of Art and Design, at McGill University, and at the School of Fine Art in Stockholm, Sweden. And yet, he is most pleased with his accomplishments as a teacher. He stresses the importance of independent creativity, never leading his students, but presenting them with materials and letting them discover their own modes of expression. His philosophy is contained in a speech which he gave to a graduating class of teachers planning to work in the north:

“Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth closed. Then they will talk and they will learn.”

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