New exhibition brings school-boy memories of First World War London to Whitstable

The award-winning work of Kent-based painter and Open College of the Arts graduate Jéréme Crow is about to reach a new audience with an exhibition at Whitstable's Horsebridge Centre next month.

The diary of E W Erlam: paintings by Jéréme Crow will feature a series of paintings based on the 1918 school-boy diary of the artist's great uncle, Edwin William Erlam, as well as mixed media pieces on paper and current works-in-progress. Jéréme researched his ancestor by visiting the house in Primrose Hill, London where Edwin lived when he was writing the diary, collecting artefacts and materials that form the basis of a series of still lifes painted in his studio in Dover.

The diary entries record the bombardment of London by 'hostile powers', a sighting of German prisoners of war, visits to the theatre and the zoo, school prize day and Edwin's first appearance in long trousers. The paintings elaborate on the diary entries and bring together collections of apparently disparate objects, the flotsam and jetsam left in the wake of a person's life.

Jéréme Crow graduated from the Open College of the Arts in 2014 with a BA Honours degree in painting and is the 2014 winner of the college's Richard Robbins Award, given each year to a single student in recognition of artistic excellence. His work was included in an exhibition featuring works by 12 new artists from across the UK at 'Art of Remembering' at the Rheged Centre in Penrith, Cumbria last autumn to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

The diary of E W Erlam: paintings by Jéréme Crow runs from 4 to 10 February. Entry is free.