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Stephen Bithell has his creative works on display in Kunsthaus Michel gallery in the southern German city of Würzburg until November 14.
The collection features an array of bridges in small format oil paintings, watercolours and drawings.
However, these bridges aren’t all that meets the eye as there is a much deeper meaning explained Mr Bithell.
He said: “I love bridges, when you look closer, they are like a handshake between two people.
“Germans say hello and goodbye with kisses and I realised that this is like us with hand shakes, it is a bridge between two people.”
He explained that there is a bridge in Germany ‘which has been a meeting place where people meet up for a glass of wine on a warm summers evening.’
Mr Bithell added that this would be ‘a great use for Westham Bridge in Weymouth as it is closed to traffic [except parking].’
He sees a connection between the Town Bridge over Weymouth Harbour and the Old Bridge in Würzburg.
He also describes himself as a ‘bridge builder’ as during the pandemic, Mr Bithell sent people his works free of charge ‘to comfort them in their loneliness of the lockdown.’
During this period he sent out between 600 and 700 postcards.
The father-of-two, who attended the former Bournemouth and Poole College of Art before becoming a hairdresser, has been painting and drawing all his life from as early as he can remember.
He said: “I knew that I wanted to be an artist by the age of around eight,”
Mr Bithell has worked as a hairdresser in Weymouth since the 1990s – including at the former Blondz salon, and Pure in St Mary Street.
Mr Bithell will be attending the gallery on Tuesday, October 28 at 7pm to meet the audience and shake their hands ‘in order to build a bridge’ between Weymouth and Würzburg.
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