Exhibition Ideas

I must start thinking soon about what I want for my exhibition next year. There is an interesting Lauren Child exhibition on at the moment in Sheffield. I had a quick look last weekend, but I need to go back with a notebook, as it's very inspirational and has opened my eyes to what's possible.

They've created interactive areas for children in the centre of the space, with all sorts of play props tied to the book characters. I also like their idea of a 'feedback tree' instead of a visitors book: kids write what they liked best on a paper leaf, then stick it onto a tree illustration on the gallery wall - simple but very effective and good fun.

As soon as my meeting is done, I will give serious thought to which bits of artwork I want framed up. Once I have chosen, I'll know what themes I have to work with for the children's role-play props and workshop sheets. Marie at the gallery tells me she doesn't need a firm decision until May/June next year, but I'm too excited about the whole thing to put it to the back of my mind til then!

The books I'm featuring are aimed at 4 - 8 year olds, so that's who any activities should be aimed at. We seem to have a reasonable budget, but there is only a single room, so space is an issue (although it has an extremely high ceiling, so I wondered about maybe suspending something above...).

The private view is planned for Thursday 13th August, 6pm - 8pm, at Tameside Central Art Gallery. The exhibition will run from then until November 7th.