Exhibitions: John Vernon Lord & Art at the Dene

As part of Hurst Festival, the Holy Trinity Church hosted a couple of art exhibitions.

The main attraction for me was the John Vernon Lord exhibition. His book, The Giant Jam Sandwich was a childhood favourite, and a couple of years ago I saw another exhibition of his work whilst on a trip to London (the exhibition in question was of his illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass).

Works in the exhibition included his illustrations for the likes of Aesop's Fables, The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear and Miserable Aunt Bertha. I really like his work because every line is so accurate, and some illustrations contain such a wonderfully high level of detail. My favourite piece at this exhibition was Sammy (the dog) spots Gretchen (the cat) from Miserable Aunt Bertha, purely because of the colour, the scene of utter chaos, and again all the details! (And maybe, just maybe, because there's a jam sandwich in that picture. I see what you did there, mister!)

The other exhibition in the church was 'Art at the Dene'. It was a collection of artworks by residents of The Dene Hospital, an establishment which uses the arts to help those with mental illness/personality disorders. The works displayed were varied in style and I thought the exhibition an excellent example of how art can be used for expression.

I didn't take any pictures within the church as I didn't feel comfortable doing so, despite the warm welcome I received at the exhibition! But I did buy a couple of postcards depicting John Vernon Lord's work :)