Dell was born in Bearsted near Maidstone in the county of Kent. She studied art at the Maidstone School of Art and then at the Central School of Art in London. She majored in book illustration and her craft was lithography. For seven years Dell worked in Berne and Geneva on page layout for the international illustrated magazine New World News. After marriage to Hugh she worked with him for a time in stage management and then designing publicity – posters, many of which were seen on London’s buses and in its underground stations - leaflets and programmes for the Westminster Theatre. In recent years Dell has branched out into other art-forms – embroidery pictures and fabric collage greetings cards.
What artistic event or work of art has made a lasting impact on you and even changed the course of your life?
Seeing great art and great performers gave me a vision of what could be achieved for good and for truth by artists with the same passion, confidence and assurance. I remember performances by Mireille Mattieu at the Albert Hall in London; the young Yves Montand on stage in Tours, France; the sheer splendour of the opening scene of The Lion King on stage; the compelling portrayal of a good man, Jean Valjean, in Les Miserables, and seeing the Pieta by Michelangelo in Rome, before it was damaged.
What are the things you feel most concerned about in your country and the world?
What most concerns me is the venom and sheer nastiness in much of public life and indeed in all levels of society. However, the way the news media covered the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II was nothing less than a celebration of goodness, courage and integrity.
