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!
