When legendary Newcastle businessman Kip McGrath showed up at Mitch Revs gallery on Union Street in The Junction on Wednesday morning, he was expecting to view a new art show.
He was taken by surprise to see an original artwork by Revs that featured him as the main subject, in a swimming pool surrounded by kids he had tutored at Kip McGrath Learning Centres.
The artwork was secretly commissioned by Mr McGrath's wife, Lillie. It was based on a dream Kip had told her about, where he was in a forest, playing with students he had tutored over the years.
"It's a bit of a fantasy," Revs said of the artwork, created from the brief given to him by Lillie.
The most outstanding feature in the artwork, a poster that says "Dreams do come true," a nod to Mr McGrath's outstanding business success.
Mr McGrath, now retired from the business he founded, said he'll gladly add the piece to his already-huge collection of artwork and sculptures at his apartment overlooking Newcastle Beach. The Revs work will be right at home in his office, he said, where he continues to do work as a consultancy to burgeoning business entrepreneurs.
Mr McGrath founded Kip McGrath Learning Centres in 1976, first establishing the English and maths tutoring business from the garage of his Maitland home. His first Newcastle centre was on Newcomen Street in Newcastle East, which he outgrew within a couple of weeks. A building on the corner of Glebe Road and Union Street at The Junction quickly became his long-time Newcastle centre.
Now a publicly traded company, Kip McGrath Education Centres, a Newcastle-based supplementary education provider, has more than 550 tutoring centres in 20 countries around the world that offer small group tuition to students in English and maths.
Mr McGrath said the business has tutored more than 3 million students.
"We saw the potential of computers," Mr McGrath said. "We are still way ahead of the competitors even today."
Mr McGrath turned 77 years old today. He said he's in good health, only suffering from a bit of arthritis, and enjoys a glass of champagne "every couple of days".
