Devlin recalls memories of Cambridge

John Devlin recalls his year at Cambridge University, England, fondly.

So having his sketches of the college on display "means a lot."

Devlin studied architecture at Dalhousie/TUNS, graduating in 1977, before going on to Cambridge to study theology in 1979, but his schooling was cut short.

Devlin returned to Halifax in June 1980, and was hospitalized for depression and psychosis in Halifax.

As a way to pass the time, he began to sketch an imaginary Oxford/Cambridge University to be built on an artificial island in the middle of the Minas Basin.

"When I was doing the sketches (in 1984 to 88), I was imagining how it would be if it were better. That's what I drew ... I added gardens and avenues of trees and flower beds and made it more grandiose," said Devlin.

"When I was sketching them, I was recovering from mental illness, so perhaps my imagination was a little bit inflated. So I went kind of over-the-top with these sketches, but I realized since that time that the college is fine just the way it is."

He said the sketches remain as a kind of record of what he was going through at that time, and his home-sickness for Cambridge.

When he was finished, he had completed 360 sketch sheets in total.

The sketches were drawn using ball point pen, crayons, colour pencils and simple marker pens.

He said he used whatever paper he could find around the house.

"I didn't use fancy artist paper or anything, I just used cheap paper," said Devlin.

In March of this year, Devlin decided to send the university a link to view his sketches and see what they thought.

"They liked them, and the arts centre coordinator emailed me back saying, 'Yes, we want to exhibit them,'" said Devlin. "They were very positive. They thought it fit in with the idea of what their college is all about, and the theme of the sketches has to do with their college, so they liked the idea of exhibiting sketches."

He sent them 22 original sketches, and they will be exhibiting all 22.

The exhibition, Dreams of Cambridge, will be held in the King's College Art Centre, Cambridge University, England, from June 12 to 26.

"It means a lot to me. I was in a pretty sorry state after having a mental breakdown and being out of work, with no prospects, and I just sketched ... It's kind of a vindication of my vision that 30 years later, after falling ill, King's College in Cambridge, England, think that they're worthwhile to exhibit in their exhibition gallery. It's a happy story, a good feeling story."

The Friends of King's College Cambridge website describes Devlin's exhibition as "22 architectural sketches in a naive, intuitive idiom looks at a fanciful expansion of King's College, Cambridge in the spirit - if not the letter - of the man who founded it in 1441, the saintly King Henry VI."

Devlin moved into a small options group home in South Dartmouth in 1989, where he has lived ever since. Since then, he has worked as a volunteer at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

For information on the exhibit, visit http://www.kingsfriends.org/news/40444/Forthcoming-exhibition---architectural-sketches-by-John-Devlin.htm

A Quicktime slideshow of the images to be exhibited can be viewed at http://files.me.com/johndevlin2/55id94.mov

lmckay@hfxnews.ca