Creative couple become our new patrons

We’re delighted to say that Hilary and Michael Murfin, who are big advocates of what we have created with Neotists and long-time members have agreed to become patrons of our organistion. Hilary and Michael are both artists and have grown up in the St Neots area, with their families going back generations.

They join two other patrons, Stephen Ferguson (right) and Nik Johnson, who are also big supporters of what we do and stand for.

Hilary Murfin (Seen right with directors, Ann Hawkins, Richard Slade and Clair Slade) went to school in St Neots and had the same art teacher as Michael. An artist and textile designer, Hilary used her iconic fashion images to create papier mâché vessels before severe arthritis impeded the movement of her arms and hands. Undaunted, she changed the focus of her work to drawing and painting the plants in her garden and more recently to taking photographs of shadows as they move across her bedroom walls, which she works together with texts from family documents.

Michael Murfin is a fine artist who was born in St Neots in 1954 and has seen the town change dramatically. It wasn’t until his final year as a post graduate student that he became convinced – by a quote from Michael Tippett – that art was to be his vocation. He is a firm believer in finding art in his own backyard and making it as accessible as possible to everyone. He often references works from antiquity in his paintings of people doing manual labour and aims to make looking at his pictures a rewarding, regenerative and life-affirming experience.