A GROUP of 50 people brought together through art during the pandemic impressed visitors with their exhibition for Hampshire Open Studios.
Strange TimesQuest was born out of lockdown, with the group connecting via email to complete monthly challenges known as quests set by group founder Terry Linehan.
The club, which now has members from Winchester, London, Cornwall, Scotland, France and the USA, held its third consecutive Hampshire Open Studios display over the bank holiday weekend at St Mary’s Chapel Hall in Kings Worthy.
READ MORE: Local art group born from lockdown 'Strange Times Quest' is taking part in Hampshire Open Studios
What a show!
— Adele Bouchard (@adele_bouchard) August 29, 2023
Strange TimesQuest put on a fabulous exhibition for @hantsopenstudio.
The group began remotely during lockdown and now has 50 artists who complete different quests each month.#hampshireopenstudios pic.twitter.com/2bgDokp6eZ
A 4.5m frieze was among the exhibition, created by 12 ‘Chroniclers’ who made a series of painted panels to showcase the club’s journey from the first lockdown in 2020 to today.
Mr Linehan said: “It’s fantastic, we have an amazing array of painting by a great group of artists who are so enthused. I never imagined the group would get this big, we started with just 13 of us.
“Hampshire Open Studios is really important for us because it’s about celebrating achievements and showing that art is for everybody – you don’t have to have a formal qualification or any experience.
“It’s great to invite other people and build the confidence of our artists. They were all a bit nervous when I first suggested it and were hesitant that they could even do it but the more we have dared to do, the braver we have become.”
The preview event on Friday, August 25 was attended by the Mayor of Winchester, members of Kings Worthy Parish Council and the Colour Factory’s Rachael Alexander who unveiled her choices for the ‘Wild Card’ exhibit.
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Speaking at the event, Ms Alexander said: “It’s so nice as a teacher and a professional artist to see what people further out of the community have been producing.
"The Strange TimesQuest concept is just amazing. To be born from a time when none of us knew what we could do because we were all a bit lost and feeling our way. To create something that brought people together with people who hadn’t even drawn or painted before – it’s absolutely amazing. Everyone should be so proud.”
Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Angela Clear, was impressed by the standard of the exhibit and struggled to pick out a favourite.
The mayor said: “For me who can’t even draw a line with a ruler, I must say well done to you all. To my eye, they’re all brilliant.”
Click on the top images to see more pictures from the exhibition.
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