Drawing Words, a British Council exhibition of contemporary UK children’s book illustration, has opened at Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books.
Curated by award-winning artist, writer and former Children’s Laureate Lauren Child (2017 – 2019), Drawing Words aims to bring together some of the most exciting children’s book illustration to come out of the UK in recent years and looks into the future of children’s illustration.
The exhibition will feature work by 10 illustrators who have been have been selected by Child for their distinctly personal and unique work, to offer a snapshot of the vibrant work being produced today. The illustrators featured are: Jill Calder (Robert the Bruce, Birlinn), Lauren Carlin (A World of Your Own, Phaidon), Rebecca Cobb (Aunt Amelia, Macmillian Children’s Books), William Grill (The Wolves of Currumpaw, Flying Eye Books), Emily Hughes (Wild, Flying Eye Books), Yasmeen Ismail (Time for Bed, Fred! Bloomsbury), Neal Layton (Emily Brown and the Thing, Hodder Children’s Books), David Mackintosh (Marshall Armstrong Is New to Our School, HarperCollins), Emily Rand (A Dog Day, Tate Publishing) and David Roberts (Tinder, Hachette).
Alongside finished work from these illustrators, additional archive material selected by Seven Stories is also on display to explore the creative process leading to the final illustrations, including favourite items drawn from the Seven Stories archive by Lauren Child.
Drawing Words features work created by local young people at workshops hosted by Seven Stories and Hannah Fox at Byker Community Trust. Nine participating children were asked to explore their imaginary world based on Laura Carlin’s collage techniques in A World of Your Own and their finished designs are on display in the gallery.
Drawing Words opened at Seven Stories on Tuesday 16th July and will close in February 2020 before being shown in cities across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and South America throughout 2020 and 2021.