Joseph McNally, born in 1923 in Ireland, was an important arts leader and educator in Singapore. He came to Singapore in 1945 as a teacher with the Catholic De La Salle Brotherhood and became so attached to the nation that he became a Singapore citizen in 1985. A compassionate educator, passionate arts champion and talented artist and sculptor himself, he helped to develop arts education locally and founded the LASALLE College of the Arts in 1984 to offer quality, affordable arts education to Singaporeans. He passed away in Ireland on a home visit in 2002 and remains celebrated in Singapore for his great contribution and devotion to the arts, arts education and the promotion of religious harmony.

Brother John Joseph McNally was born in Ballintubber, Ireland on 10 August 1923. Raised in a close-knit farming community, he grew up steeped in the region’s rich, ancient history and Catholic faith. At the age of 14, he joined the De La Salle Brotherhood dedicated to mission work and helping disadvantaged youth around the world, particularly in the area of education. After six years of study at De La Salle’s retreat and college, during which he took art as one of his subjects, McNally was sent to Singapore in 1945 just after World War II.

Here, the 23-year-old taught at St Joseph's Institution from 1946. In 1951, he moved to St John’s Institution in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and spent the most part of the ’50s and ’60s teaching in schools in Malaysia affiliated with De La Salle, namely St John’s Institution, St Paul’s Institution in Seremban, St Xavier's Institution, and St Joseph’s Training College in Penang. In 1963 he became principal of St John’s Institution as well as a member of several Catholic school councils and boards. Two years later, he attained Malaysian citizenship. In the midst of his teaching career, he took a few years off to pursue further studies, first at Dublin’s Irish National College of Art from 1951 to 1954, then in Rome, Italy from 1960 to 1961, and subsequently at New York’s Columbia University where he attained a Master’s degree in Art and Education in 1969 and a Doctorate in Education in 1972.

Thus well equipped, McNally returned to Singapore in 1973 to teach at St Patrick's School. In 1975, he became its principal and made several changes—he abolished corporal punishment; set up a students’ council and students’ parliament; built a sports complex and hostel; formed The Patrician Society for parents, teachers and old boys to discuss school issues together; and introduced the teaching of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. In 1983, he retired as principal but was later made consultant to Singapore’s Ministry of Education and helped to revise the art syllabus for schools and create the Art Elective Programme.

However, from the time he had pursued a doctorate at Columbia University, he had dreamt of setting up an art school in Singapore for students who were talented but could not afford to study art overseas. In 1984, a year after his retirement, Brother Joseph realised his dream by setting up the St Patrick’s Arts Centre on the St Patrick’s School premises. The school was financed by McNally himself with additional funding and support from professionals and former students-turned-arts professionals, who now volunteered their teaching services to the new school for a token fee until the school could recruit its own staff.

St Patrick’s Arts Centre started with 27 students and limited facilities, and slowly grew under McNally’s tireless efforts. In 1986, the school moved to a new campus at Lorong J Telok Kurau and was renamed LASALLE College of the Arts. McNally, who had become a Singapore citizen in 1985, became its president. Over the subsequent decade, he developed the school into a leading arts institution in the region, with a comprehensive visual and performing arts curriculum, highly qualified teachers and scores of well-nurtured students—many of whom graduated to become professional artists.

McNally also became a leading arts advocate and highly sought-after arts and arts education advisor to the government and other organisations, even after retiring to become President Emeritus of LASALLE College of the Arts in 1997. For his many significant contributions to local arts and education, he received many awards and accolades over the decades including the 1946 First Prize for Painting at the Festival of Limerick, Ireland; the 1990 Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Medal); a 1994 Honorary Doctor of Arts conferment from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia; a 1995 Honorary Doctor of Laws conferment from the National University of Ireland; a 1996 Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International; the 1997 LASALLE-SIA Medallion Award; the 1997 Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal); and the 1998 Montblanc de la Culture Award.

Besides being a committed arts educator, McNally was himself a dedicated artist and sculptor. Throughout his teaching career and after, he devoted much of his spare time to art-making. He created over 200 sculptures and paintings infused with Celtic and Southeast Asian influences that centred on life-affirming themes of humanity, spirituality and nature. Many of his sculptures were made out of ancient bogwoods recovered from swamps in Ireland during his biennial vacations to his homeland and shipped to Singapore. Over the decades, he held at least six solo exhibitions and participated in more than 10 group exhibitions in Singapore and other cities around the world including Dublin, Castletown and Galway in Ireland, New York, Bermuda, Penang and Fukuoka in Japan.

On 27 Aug 2002, McNally passed away from a heart attack while visiting his hometown of County Mayo, Ireland. Today, he is commemorated by a Brother Joseph McNally Gallery in the LASALLE College of the Arts campus; a posthumous 2004 memorial led by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs George Yeo to erect Brother Joseph’s sculpture Counsellor II on the grounds of the National Museum of Ireland; countless tributes; and his lovingly made body of work. The greatest tribute however lies in the success of LASALLE College of the Arts, a dream and gift to generations of aspiring Singapore artists made real through the efforts of Joseph McNally.