Images of Childhood

Just checking in with some info on a couple of exhibitions I've been to recently, that I think may interest one or two of you.

The first was at a fairly local school gallery, Mascalls in Paddock Wood, Kent. I hadn't been to this little gallery before but happily somehow got sent an invitation to the private view of 'School Prints, Art for the 1940s Classroom'. The Mister and I spent a lovely hour or so, drinking Prosecco and secretly wishing we could take some of the works away with us.

'Some of the most important contemporary artists were commissioned to produce original, hand drawn colour lithographs with accessible imagery'. It was a bid to expose school children to their first experience of contemporary visual art. And was the brain child of Brenda Rawnsley, who by the third series managed to persuade hugely important artists such as Picasso and Matisse to participate.

Vogue magazine loved the school room concept so much, the prints were touted as the clever way to add colour to interiors.

The second exhibition contains a lot of heart warming nostalgic imagery from my own school days.

image BBC

'Ladybird by Design', has just opened at the de la warr pavilion East Sussex. A celebration of the significance and affection that we feel for these early childhood books.

Looking at these gorgeous illustrations brought back floods of memories for me.

Not that my own experiences were reflected in these depictions of a middle class Utopia. I love them nonetheless. A gentler, simple and more uncomplicated way of life, well that's how I remember it anyway.

The exhibition displays over 200 original illustrations that cover a selection of Ladybird books from the 50s to the 70s.

There is no admission charge to either of these delightful exhibitions and they are both on for a wee while yet, pop along if you're in the vicinity.