Exhibition featuring work from Black Country actor and artist to be held next week
Artwork from a renowned Black Country actress Gill Jordan and a "fantastic" professional artist who met at a theatre will go on display next week.
The star – known for her persona Doreen Tipton – met Derek Powell-Jones whilst performing at the Red Rose Theatre in Rugeley several years ago.
The meeting came after a portrait competition had been organised for her Queen of the Black Country character, later leading her to take up painting.
And now the pair have come together to put on an exhibition of their works at Bishton Hall, in Stafford, on September 3 between 12pm to 5pm.
She said: "Several years ago there was a competition to do a portrait of Doreen Tipton and I sat at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and people drew me as her.
"And I did a performance at Red Rose Theatre in Rugeley and this guy said 'I had done you a portrait of Doreen for the Red Rose theatre' – they've got a wall of people where they put portraits up.
"I said 'it's fantastic'. I've always fancied painting but I've never done it and he said he ran a class every Thursday night and asked me to join, and that's how I met David – he was the tutor of the group."
Between 15 and 20 pieces from Ms Jordan will be featured in the exhibition whilst Mr Powell-Jones has around 30 or so featured, with their work also being showcased online at cheslyngalleries.com
"I find it very relaxing and it's a very lovely thing to do when I'm a resting actor – It's just nice and it was especially lovely during lockdown to be able to do that. It's a nice thing to do alongside acting," the actor said.
"I do it as a hobby but for Derek he's been doing this for 60 years, he's a professional and he's really fantastic."
Mr Powell-Jones, who is from Wolverhampton and is now based in Rugeley, also does talks for local groups. Anyone interested should contact him on 07837 835 962.
