A major new exhibition celebrating children's books like the Gruffalo, Zog, Stick Man and Room on the Broom is to open in Salford this summer. It will celebrate children's author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler's award-winning partnership which has spawned some of the best-loved characters in fiction.
The free family-friendly exhibition, entitled Julia and Axel - Thirty Years of Favourite Stories - will be open at The Lowry arts centre in time for the school Summer holidays in July, and run for the rest of the year.
It will feature a special "Storybook room", snippets from the animated versions of the likes of The Gruffalo, Zog and Snail and the Whale, as well as an exploration of how Julia and Axel have worked together to create their iconic works.
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From the terrible tusks and terrible claws of the Gruffalo to the Witch, her cat, and her very tall hat, and Stick Man on his journey home to the ‘family tree’, the duo's characters are known and loved by children around the world.
The Lowry has worked in collaboration with publishers Macmillan Children’s Books and Scholastic on the "landmark" new exhibition on the duo. Their partnership has created some of the world’s best-loved, and best-selling children’s books, including The Gruffalo, Zog, Room on the Broom, The Smeds and the Smoos, and most recently, The Baddies.
The exhibition will open at The Lowry from Saturday July 22 and run right through to Monday January 1, 2024 so there will be plenty of opportunities to visit over the course of the year.
It will feature several of Julia Donaldson’s personal writing notebooks; containing the very first ideas and creative thinking behind her picture book stories. This will be the first time that they have been shown as a collection, giving visitors a chance to see how her work has developed and changed over the years.
These will be shown alongside Axel Scheffler’s artwork, showing the process of his illustrations from sketches and works in progress, to full page final illustrations that readers are familiar with seeing in the finished books.
Julia Donaldson says: “I am delighted that we are working in partnership with The Lowry on this exhibition and that they are celebrating 30 years of Axel and me working together. It is exciting to be able to share some ‘behind the scenes’ secrets with our young readers and to show what happens before a finished book is in their hands.
"I hope that it will help them to feel creative and to start writing and illustrating their own stories, so that we have new picture-book creators in the future.”
Axel Scheffler says: "I find it hard to believe that it is 30 years since Julia Donaldson and I did our first picture book together with A Squash and a Squeeze. So much has happened since then and many children have now enjoyed our stories over the years.
"I am very pleased that The Lowry is hosting this special celebratory exhibition and that it will give families the chance to discover more about my illustrations and Julia's writing."
Michael Simpson, Director of Visual Arts at The Lowry, says: “This is a unique celebration of the creative partnership of Julia and Axel, whose stories and pictures are loved by children and grown-ups alike. We want every family to think of The Lowry as the place to go for a great day out.”
The exhibition will also look at Julia and Axel’s own personal stories and their brilliantly creative partnership and how this has developed over 30 years. The exhibition explores their stories through three key themes.
‘Highways’, brings together stories where Julia and Axel’s characters embark on new exciting journeys - from ‘the deep dark wood’ with The Gruffalo and across the sea, so wild and free’ with The Snail and the Whale to blasting into space with The Smeds and the Smoos.
The second theme celebrates ‘Heroes’ – from the super-long and super-strong Superworm, to the little girl in The Baddies, who shows us that you don’t have to be big to be brave, and George, the smartest – and kindest – giant in town.
Lastly, ‘Home’ focuses on stories with families and friendships at their heart; from Stick Man, reunited with his ‘Stick Lady Love and stick children three’, to the Tales of Acorn Wood, home to many animal friends.
The exhibition will also feature extracts from Magic Light Pictures’ hugely popular animated Christmas specials for the BBC, as well as songs, photographs, and a specially created ‘storybook room’, inspired by Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book, will provide opportunities for friends and families to come together to read and enjoy Julia and Axel’s stories.
Throughout the exhibition there will be lots of fun opportunities for children to be creative themselves as they are guided to write their own stories, draw pictures, dress up, and play fun games inspired by the books.
Julia and Axel – Thirty Years of Favourite Stories runs at The Lowry, Salford from Saturday 22nd July 2023 to Monday 1st January 2024. Gallery Opening Times: Tue-Fri 11am-5pm | Sat-Sun 10am-5pm | Closed Mon, except bank holidays.
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