Local actress Zhara to open Dame Hannah's art exhibition

Local actress Zhara Ahmadi is to open the second annual Hannahwood art exhibition at the Watermark in Ivybridge on May 14th. All the work on show has been created by the Hannahwood Collective, young adults from the ground-breaking Adult Provision at the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust. This follows their highly successful inaugural exhibition last May.

The Hannahwood Collective has recently celebrated its first anniversary and the budding young artists have seen their art business grow from strength to strength. This Adult Provision was created to help the young people at Dame Hannah`s learn life-skills and to stop them being placed in an inappropriate environment such as an old people`s nursing home on reaching the age of 19.

Zhara Ahmadi is now a nationally acclaimed actress appearing in Eastenders, and more recently alongside Paul Whitehouse, in BBC2`s sitcom, Bellamy`s People. Born and brought up in the West Country, Zhara never forgets her roots and was therefore delighted to continue her support for her local charity.

Suzanne Bloodworth, Activities and Development Manager in Hannahwood said "We were delighted at how successful our first exhibition was last May and how many paintings were sold. All our young adults have really developed as artists over the last year and have been trying out new techniques such as screen printing and multi medium. We have also branched out with our art products and have transferred their work onto mugs, cards, bookmarks and fridge magnets. We are really excited about this exhibition and hope that lots of visitors and keen art collectors from the local community will come and support our young artists".