There’s still time to see the my exhibition at the Barbican library which is on until 27 November.
I’ll be there on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and I’ll also be doing a workshop for families on Saturday 23 Nov, 1.30 – 3.30 pm in the children’s library.
Chaulden Infants School bookworms learn eye-popping techniques from children’s author Published on the 04 October 2013 11:04
Little bookworms at Chaulden Infants and Nursery School have been treated to a visit from a children’s pop-up book author.
John O’Leary, who has masterminded kids’ titles such as Pirate Treasure Hunt and Detective Paws, visited the school during Book Week.
During the visit, he worked with all the pupils in small workshops, showing them techniques and helping them to design and construct their own books. School spokesman Julie James said: “John is an expert at paper engineering and in his books he creates amazing and surprising pop-ups. “The children used words such as ‘ wow’, ‘amazing’ and ‘brilliant’ when they realised the pop up effects they had created themselves under his direction. “The buzz of excitement from the children continued throughout the day and was enjoyed by all.” Author John also illustrated a picture of a snake and monkey for the school’s main hall wall to mark his visit.
First visit of the school year spent with the fabulous children of Chaulden Infants in Hemel Hempstead. The giant pop-up was created by the two Reception classes.
I’ve just finished working on the Hamster Device Mark II. This is the thing we use to make projected images appear and disappear on the wall during the PoetryJoe Show. Even though what you see isn’t the end product, I can’t help thinking it’s quite a nice object in it’s own right.
The PoetryJoe Show’s autumn tour kicks off properly at the end of the month. For details of all the dates, please go here.
I’ve always wanted to try my hand at a theatre poster and was finally given the opportunity after a chance meeting with Alan Ward at the Museums at Night event in May. As a result of our brief encounter, Alan, from The Theatre Centre, asked me to design the poster for one of their upcoming productions.
What the Thunder Said, a new play by award-winning writer Ed Harris, is based on a series of conversations and workshops with children about violence in five inner-city areas. These children spoke as victims, witnesses and sometimes perpetrators.
I was aiming for the feel of a comic book or manga style to connect with the age group and the fairly limited palette was a result of this. A lot was decided through trial and error – I did like the way the people at The Theatre Centre took ownership of the design and took a very active part in the development of their poster.
The decision to make the child look upwards towards the clouds tended give it a slightly more realistic feel and there was the added challenge of making the girl angry and frustrated without looking ugly – we needed to feel sympathetic towards her. The finished drawing of the girl has a touch of the David Shrigley about it – especially the fists – which I think is good as it does gets across a nice a sense of awkwardness.
Pictures from the workshop at 3 Corners Centre over the weekend. I was very pleased to see a good range of ages and abilities – one woman who brought her child ended up doing the amazing construction below.
Some of the work produced will be on show in Bookends at 66 Exmouth Market until the end of July as part of Islington Exhibits.