Saturday 2nd July - Wednesday 31st August 2022
Four Seasons of Children's Picture Books by Kerry Dilks
A selection of original illustrations from The Greatest Cake, Bonnie's Ball, The Peg People and a preview of Wooglefog at Erewash Museum, Ilkeston.
When I was asked by Erewash Museum if I would like to exhibit more artwork in The Lally Gallery for their summer holiday slot, I thought it would be a good opportunity to showcase the original artwork for Bonnie's Ball. The previous 2 children's books had already had their time in the gallery, but Bonnie's Ball had not. Work was underway for children's book number four and it made me wonder if there was a way I could preview Wooglefog too.
Knowing the gallery walls pretty well now, I tried to visualise how the next exhibition would look. That's when I realised that even with all of the art work framed and displayed from Bonnie's Ball, it would struggle to fill the whole room. The idea of having a selection of my best work from all three books and a special preview wall for the new story, seemed like a better and more interesting way of displaying the illustrations. "Four Seasons of children's books" was approved!
I'm always trying to work out ways to make my exhibitions more interesting for young children, so I decided that a short quiz would accompany the show. I chose questions that would be straightforward for children of any age, so that they were invited to really look at each wall and hopefully engage a little more. At the end, families were invited to add their contact details so that they would be entered into a free prize draw to win a selection of signed prints.
There was a small section at the end of my quiz where I asked for feedback...I had some wonderful replies!
