Initiated in 1995 by Michael and Sandy Aldrich, the Aldrich Collection  comprises about 300 works of contemporary visual art. The vast majority of these have been produced by students and tutors working in the Arts at the University of Brighton,  as well as its distinguished institutional precursors in art and  design education which go back over 140 years. Pictures and artefacts in numerous media are held within the collection with the aim that they should be accessed by the wider community.

Walter Bailey bn. 1960, ‘Sculpture’, green oak, 214cm x 61cm

Important areas of the collection include works by John Vernon Lord, George Hardie, Brendan Neiland, Alan Davie, Quentin Blake, Kenneth McKendry and Mark Power.

Please do browse the Aldrich Collection here.

During the national lockdown the The Michael Aldrich Foundation ran the “Image of the Week” school project with JONK, releasing one image a week from the Aldrich Collection.

Portrait of Michael Aldrich by Kenneth McKendry, Aldrich Collection, University of Brighton

Michael Aldrich and his family have had a strong supportive relationship with the University of Brighton since sponsoring student employees for electronics engineering and computing degrees in 1977. Michael became a member of the Governing Body in 1982 and is the Founding Chairman (1988-1998) of the University of Brighton.

In 1996 the University of Brighton dedicated the new Moulscomb Library to Michael Aldrich. In June 2002 the final stage of the Aldrich Gardens at Moulscomb was opened. In July 2002 Michael Aldrich received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University and in 2008 agreed to donate the Michael Aldrich Archive to the Aldrich Library.