4:10pm Wednesday 23rd June 2010
By Warwick Payne
A ROYAL visitor will be coming to Winchester to admire the works produced by the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.
HRH Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, will be opening the exhibition at the city’s Great Hall in Castle Avenue next to the law courts.
The event will take place on Thursday, July 15, and will be open to the public for one week.
The exhibition in the historic setting will feature works produced by around 30 artists from the group.
They include Tom Yendell, whose portrait of Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, is on display at City Hall in the capital.
Closer to home, the married father-of-two also runs the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists’ gallery in Selborne near Alton.
He will be visiting Winchester to talk about his work, as will another artist, Alison Lapper.
Her sculpture work has previously been seen on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
The group will be returning to the famous square in London in early September for a live painting demonstration.
Other major events on the calendar this summer include another painting demonstration in the capital, this time in Hyde Park.
They will also be showing their works at The Forum in Norwich in mid September.
The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists group was founded in 1956 as a self-help group by Erich Stegmann, himself a polio sufferer.
Its aim is to help disabled people to support themselves by marketing their work in the form of greetings cards, calendars, prints and illustrated books.
Since then, the group, which has its headquarters in London, has expanded into a worldwide movement.
For more information about the exhibition in Winchester call the Great Hall on 01962 846476.
And for more details about the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists visit the group’s website, www.mfpa.co.uk.
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