Art for day-trippers

Aug 16 2006 By Philip Key Arts Editor, Liverpool Daily Post

FOR 25 years Eddie Porter has been visiting Liverpool's Beatles sites as a guide on the Beatles Mystery Tour bus. This week, he was at one Beatles site that the fans visit just once a year.

The Liverpool Academy of Arts in Seel Street plays host to Come Together, an annual exhibition of art inspired by the Beatles.

Porter was the man who declared it open, explaining that the exhibition, which has been running for over a decade, always "opened the door for the annual Beatles Festival".

He was referring to the International Beatles Week which opens on August 23 together with the Mathew Street Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

This year's exhibition, created mostly by Merseyside-based artists, is a little smaller than usual but has attracted a number of new artists.

June Lornie, who runs the academy, said she had been surprised by the number of new artists wanting to exhibit in the show, running until September 1.

Around 150 works have been hung in the gallery together with the Beatles clothes designed by Ms Lornie herself, a one-time creator of outfits for showbusiness clients.

Her bright clothes adorned with Beatles images have always been one of the highlights of the exhibition.

Elsewhere, there were portraits galore with images taken directly from the titles of Beatles songs.