ARTISTS who have experienced the anguish of homelessness will showcase their best work in Worcester Cathedral at the first exhibition of its kind for the city.

'Haven' was chosen as the title of the exhibition because the word resonated with homeless people and rough sleepers who have not always had a home to call their own.

The vibrant and varied work by members of the Maggs Day Centre art group includes abstract and symbolic pieces, landscapes and three-dimensional pieces such as sculptures using clay as well as poetry, sketches, mixed media work and paintings.

The work will be displayed at the Dean's Chapel between Tuesday, January 31 and Wednesday, February 15, during cathedral opening hours.

Francesca Currie, a local artist specialising in portraits is curating the exhibition and runs the Maggs Art group.

She said: "I’m extremely proud of the work that the service users have made. They have worked hard and its wonderful to see their work on display.

"It's very bright, colourful, lively and very diverse and captures the different personalities of the artists."

Among those to be exhibiting their work are Martyn Cwik, aged 61, of Worcester who specialises in surreal painting.

He has been attending the group since 2015, having suffered a stroke in 2014.

He said: "I had a period of homelessness and I went to the day centre regularly. They got me into the YMCA and into sheltered housing."

Mark Hilsden, aged 55, of Worcester city centre, will be displaying a pen and ink drawing of Maggs Day Centre, the charity which helped him when he became homeless. He had been living with his wife in his car in Croft Road in Worcester for around six months.

He said: "My wife and I were following a dream and it all went wrong. It was a bit cold at times.

"With the support of Maggs my wife and I have gone from living in a car to working in a city centre store where I am now the manager of a cleaning team.”

He donated his drawing to the day centre as a thank you for the help it had given him.

Tony Jakeman, one of the artists, says there is an incorrect perception that homeless people are all sitting on a bench with a can of lager in their hand.

Mr Jakeman, who is working on creating posters to promote the exhibition, said: "I only drink Dom Pérignon."

Mr Jakeman's pieces have humour but with a hard-hitting message. One of of his pieces consisted of two actual keys, one named 'arm' and the other named 'leg', to reflect how hard it can be to get the funds to support a roof over your head.

Another artist who wished to be known only by his first name of 'Joseph' stressed the therapeutic value of art for homeless people, some of whom battled mental health problems including depression and schizophrenia.

Mel Kirk, the day centre chief executive who has been at the hostel for 14 years, is also displaying a piece called "I am a person too".

She said of the exhibition: "It's amazing, really exciting. The stereotype of homeless people isn't the nicest of things. This is a way of challenging those stereotypes.

"For our service users, what an honour and how much will that raise self-confidence to see their artwork in the Cathedral. It's the first time it's been done.

"We work with homeless and vulnerable people to raise self-confidence, thereby enabling positive life change. If you feel you're at rock bottom, you're not going to improve."

The work has been created over the past year during the art group on Tuesdays.

Les West, the Cathedral Steward, described the exhibition as both 'interesting and diverse'.

Donations are always welcome at Maggs, for more information contact: mkirk@maggsdaycentre.co.uk

For further details about the exhibition contact: Francesca Currie on francescacurrieartist@gmail.com