Egham Visions: Land In The Bend Of The River.

This exhibition drew from Egham Museum’s John Hassell watercolour collection, which was painted in the 1820s, as a setting for exploring hidden stories in Egham. This community art project was guided by artist in residence Estella Castle, and allowed us to better interpret, catalogue and conserve the works of John Hassell and make them an accessible starting point for discussions and engagement.

This culminated in the exhibition opening in Spring 2021. The exhibition brought together artistic practices of community artists with the collection of Egham Museum. The centrepieces of the exhibition were Estella Castle’s two life-size sculpture works, a horse and a haystack, to which John’s Hassell’s paintings provided the backdrop. As well as placing these pictures in the wider context of contemporary political, agricultural, industrial and social lives, there are relevant local stories which display humour, sadness and normal everyday life of the inhabitants of rural Egham in the 1820s. In light of this, this exhibition also draws attention to several endangered crafts, particularly that of straw Corn Dolly making, from which Land in the Bend of the River drew its inspiration.