Visitors to York can experience a free immersive exhibition that injects new blood into Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, Dracula.

The exhibition, God’s Women, Good Men and Monsters is centred on original illustrations by York artist Kirsty Maclennan that feature in a new illustrated book of the classic novel.

The exhibition opens on Friday 25 April at the newly refurbished Contemporary Arts Floor of York Fine Arts, where Kirsty works as a Senior Gallery Assistant.

Kirsty based the depictions of the gothic characters on real people including her work colleagues, including York Fine Arts former director Alan Short, who passed away in 2023. The collection took almost a year to complete and pays homage to Alan and other colleagues who modelled for the illustrations.

Kirsty Maclennan said: “I felt I could give more power and modern relevance to the characters and their experience by drawing from life, rather than my imagination. Particularly with Alan, our late Director. I was deeply touched that his family allowed me to honour his legacy by including him as my Van Helsing. He is greatly missed, and I just know he would get a real kick out of seeing himself in the pages of Dracula.”

The York visual artist, and writer recently exhibited her work as part of Baltic Open Submission 2024, and her illustrations have been published in collectors’ editions of Bronte and Stoker classics.

The exhibition also features calligraphy art by the American artist, Christina Rauh Fishburne, brought to life in the immersive display which features film, music, and curios from the gothic tale.

It concludes a tour of God’s Women, Good Men and Monsters which opened last October in Whitby, the birthplace of Dracula, before being hosted in the atmospheric Crypt Gallery, London in February.

Surrounded by the faces of her colleagues, both in person and on the walls, Kirsty feels the close of the exhibition at York Fine Arts is particularly fitting: “The project has been a very special one to me, and it feels right that the show should finish its run in the city I now call home.”

The exhibition was inspired by a new edition of Dracula, which commissioned the original artworks, published by Whitby’s independent publisher, The Crow Emporium.

Leticia Lentini, founder of the Crow Emporium Press, said: “The appetite for the book and the exhibition has been phenomenal attracting a legion of Dracula fans and visitors. Dracula has an enduring appeal, and I think each new adaptation or illustration of the story brings a new, fascinating dimension.”

She added: “This collection of illustrations captures Dracula’s gothic essence in a way that is both timeless and fresh. It’s a true honour to work with such talented women, bringing new, modern dimensions to a literary classic.”

For the first time, visitors will be able to buy Kirsty’s illustrations at the exhibition.

Gallery Manager Deanna Dawkins said. “Hosting the final run of the exhibition at York Fine Arts is such a fantastic way for us to support Kirsty as one of our own and applaud her as an emerging artist very clearly on the rise. We couldn’t think of a better way to mark the reopening of our recently refurbished contemporary space and open the next chapter for our expanding contemporary collection.”

‘God’s Women, Good Men and Monsters,’ free exhibition at York Fine Arts: 25th April-5th May. Open 10am-5pm, seven days a week.