Artist David Lewry spent a year creating 36 colored pencil portraits of people working in Bedford, including a nurse, teacher, farm worker, dog groomer, funeral director, and hairdresser. The series, titled "Bedford at Work," will be exhibited at The Basement at Bunyan Gallery in Bedford from Tuesday to Saturday. Lewry, a 72-year-old former botanical artist trained at the Eden Project, was inspired during the pandemic by his wife Liz's work as a carer and wanted to honor ordinary workers in the community.
The exhibition matters because it celebrates the often-overlooked contributions of everyday workers and highlights the diversity and vibrancy of Bedford, a town Lewry feels gets unfairly negative attention. By focusing on "just ordinary people" in their working environments, the project offers a positive, human-centered counterpoint to broader media narratives and underscores the value of local, community-based art.