Now the multimillion-dollar collection, which has 4000 works and is one of the most publicly accessible in the country, is being celebrated in a new book, A Place for Art, and a public exhibition which opened last week.

 Visitors can  check out 25 selected artworks  at the UOW Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery at Building 25, Northfields Avenue, between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday, until September 13.

Some of the highlights include ex-UOW art collection director Guy Warren’s large 1986 canvas, Escarpment, Illawarra, (pictured), Nice Poster, a 1981 screenprint from Illawarra arts collective Redback Graphix and political indigenous work First Stolen Then Stolen Land, by Gordon Hookey.

Sculptures, such as May Barrie’s Viva Solarius and Bert Flugelman’s Gateway to Mount Keira, can also be seen on campus.

A Place for Art, provides an overview of the collection and is the result of a year’s work by editor and collection director, Professor Amanda Lawson, and faculty staff, including project manager Mary Papakosmas and curator Phillippa Webb.

Professor Lawson said the collection started in the late ’70s and the idea for the book came about last year with the UOW’s 60th anniversary and the departure of vice-chancellor Gerrard Sutton.

‘‘It was a time to reflect - he [Sutton] was extremely committed to the art collection and vice-chancellor Paul Wellings is equally committed,’’ she said.

The collection is  extensive and also features Aboriginal art on paper and faculty staff work.

 ‘‘Most art galleries can only display 1 to 2per cent at any given time, but our collection can display at least 50per cent, stretching from Bega to Bowral to Sydney.’’

For group tours of the collection, call 42213996. A Place for Art is available from the UOW for $20.