VISITORS to an exhibition by the artist who designed the cover of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album in 1967 have been creating their very own Pop Art masterpieces.

Alphabet - a set of 26 screen prints by one of Britain's leading Pop artists Peter Blake - has gone on display at the Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington. Blake used images from popular culture in the prints for each letter of the alphabet, for example 'K' is for 'king' and used pictures of Elvis Presley.

At the preview of the exhibition visitors were asked to create their own piece of pop art to be exhibited alongside the screen prints.

They were asked to pull an envelope out of a hat which contained a letter and some images from magazines, postcards and popular culture beginning with that letter. The participants then had to use those to create a collage. The Mayor and Mayoress of Hyndburn, Councillor Miles Parkinson and his wife Bernadette, who were at the preview joined in the fun and their pictures of 'W' and 'S' are now sitting alongside Blake's alphabet.

Art gallery manager Jennifer Rennie said: "All of these pictures now run alongside the 26 screen prints by Peter Blake."

Blake studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1950s and progressed into intellectual Pop Art.

He tried to celebrate the new pop culture exploding in music, film and TV, culminating in his work for the Beatles. The exhibition has already proved popular with more than 70 people visiting on the first day - double the number of people who had visited the gallery the previous Saturday.

Mrs Rennie said: "The appeal of Pop Art is that it is in such stark contrast to academic art."

Blake's Alphabet screen prints were created in 1991, but relate to the Pop Art of the 1960s. The exhibition, touring the country, is at the Haworth Art Gallery, Manchester Road, until February 13.