It was the annual Art and Food Fair today at the Harley Gallery - wonderful. There's a variety of studios from an organ restorer through to jewellers. The artists are all happy to chat and offer mince pies. See http://www.harleygallery.co.uk/maker.php?pg_id=11&st_id=103 for more lovely info.
Showing in the Gallery was an exhibition by Quentin Blake. We are all familiar with his illustrations in Roald Dahl books but I didn't realise until recently that he has been commissioned to produce work for hospitals and health centres which have a therapeutic effect on residents. It was this that was on show. The link below gives a good insight into the motivation for these projects.
There were four sections to the work. The first was a series of illustrations about Planet Zog for Harrow Hospital and aimed at the under 5's. The pictures are full of life with plenty to talk about. I was with my 6 year old grand daughter and she created stories around what she saw. (She went on to do the same with every other image she saw). This one particularly appealed to her and she populated it with people she knew:
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| From Quentin Blake's Planet Zog series |
There were also images for a unit treating people with eating disorders. The series is called "Ordinary Life in Vincent Square" and they presented a quite different approach. They showed the everyday tasks people do as they get on with their lives - I think the aim might have been to make life seem "normal" and encourage patients to think that things will improve. I am used to Blake's work being fun (as these still are) but the sensitivity displayed here gave a real insight into the artist.
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| From Ordinary Life in Vincent Square by Quentin Blake |
The third section Our Friends in the Circus was made for a mental health ward in another hospital in Harrow, and features fire-eaters, jugglers and clowns.
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| From Our Friends in the Circus by Quentin Blake |
In these pictures Blake doesn't shy away from the difficulties society has with mental illness. He confronts it with compassion and humour.
The fourth series of pictures are the most recent and were for a mother and baby unit in Angers. The theme is the entrance of the baby to the world and meeting its mother (and father) for the first time. The colours are limited to mainly green and this give an ethereal, floating feeling to the work which resembles the womb. Pure magic.
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| From the series for the maternity unit in Angers |
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