Kristina Veasey

The artists featured on the prints include these musicians, actors and personalities who have performed on our stages.

Paul Robeson (1898-1976)

Paul Robeson was a singer, actor, professional football player and civil rights activist. He sang live to packed out audiences at Bristol Beacon multiple times from the 1920s to 1960s with Bristolians queuing up for autographs.

Gracie Fields (1898-1979)

Gracie Fields was one of the UK’s most popular film stars. She was an actress, singer and comedian and performed at Bristol Beacon on multiple occasions from the 1930s to 1950s.

Alfred Hollins (1865-1942)

Hollins was known as the “eminent blind organist” and was also a composer and teacher. He was famous for his surprising improvisations such as a merging Three Blind Mice and Auld Lang Syne.

Kristina Veasey’s design also references the women’s rights movement with the inclusion of a suffragette poster. Suffragette activists Elsie Howey and Vera Holme famously once disrupted a political meeting by jumping out from behind the organ.

George Riseley (1845-1932)

Bristol-born Riseley enjoyed a decades long relationship with Bristol Beacon. He performed frequently and would practice on the organ late into the early hours of the morning. Veasey’s artwork references The Storm, a music piece that Riseley would frequently perform accompanied by an orchestra, choir and painted imagery depicting different types of weather.

Herr Dobler (1836-1904)

Herr Dobler was a Bristol based magician considered the “king of the conjurors”. He performed at Bristol Beacon for many years often appearing alongside Poole’s Myriorama, a touring variety act troupe which included Marzella Queen of the Feathered tribe.

Clara Butt (1872-1936)

Clara was raised in Bristol from the age of 8 and became a contralto opera star performing in concert halls worldwide. In 1900 she married fellow opera singer Kennerley Rumford at Bristol Cathedral. In 1925 on the 25th anniversary of her nuptials, she performed with her husband at Bristol Beacon wearing her original wedding dress.

Curated and produced by Cathy Mager, Creative Director: Heritage and Public Space Design and made possible with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.