Two Exhibitions Come to an End

In the last two weeks, two of our most popular exhibitions have finished their runs at their final venues. It is quite sad for the team at Seven Stories to say goodbye to these exhibitions, as we have been working on them both since early 2011 - nearly 4 years!

The Jacqueline Wilson exhibition - Daydreams and Diaries, the Story of Jacqueline Wilson, has been on display at Seven Stories in Newcastle for a full year, then travelled to Hove Museum and Gallery, Ferens Gallery in Hull, The Dick Institute in Kilmarnock, and finally the Museum of Childhood in London.

A Squash and a Squeeze, Sharing Stories with Julia Donaldson, first was on display in Newcastle at Seven Stories, and then did a very busy tour first to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, then to Chatham Historic Dockyard, and finally to Bradford's Cartwright Hall, where it closed on Sunday 9th November 2014.

Touring our exhibitions enables them to be seen around the country by hundreds of thousands more people than possible in our own venue. We are continually working on new exhibitions (with new and repeat venues!), and it is very exciting to see how the exhibitions work in new spaces, and link to their collections and visitors.

Daydreams and Diaries at the Museum of Childhood, London

Daydreams and Diaries at the Museum of Childhood, London

Lindsey, our paper conservator checking Nick Sharratt's artwork as it leaves its final venue in London. 

Artwork crates all packed and ready to return to Seven Stories

Cartwright Hall in Bradford, on a beautifully sunny day when I visited to talk about the exhibition with the curators and learning team.

Entrance to the main gallery, although there was also a few breakout spaces in the rest of the museum, including Julia's Jukebox in the atrium area!

Packing up to send everything back up to Seven Stories, this is the cow from the Squash and the Squeeze house - he deserves a rest don't you think! You can see some of the fantastic artwork by Emily Gravett and David Roberts in the background too.

To find out more about our upcoming touring programme, to see if there is anything coming to a venue near you, please click here, and you can find out where we have been in the past by clicking here. Our next exhibition will be the first venue for the Enid Blyton exhibition tour - Beaney Art Museum and Library in Canterbury, opening in late January 2015.

If you are interested in booking an exhibition for your venue, please email sarah.mcglynn@sevenstories.org.uk.

Dragons, Diaries and the Gruffalo, Seven Stories Touring in Summer 2014

Every year Seven Stories tour's our exhibitions all around the country. So far this year we have already shown exhibitions in Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent and Leeds City Museum. In Summer 2014, Seven Stories is accessible to people all over the country by displaying exhibitions in Wolverhampton, Bradford and London.

Daydreams and Diaries, the Story of Jacqueline Wilson
V&A: Museum of Childhood from April 5th - 2nd November 2014

This very special exhibition, curated with the help of Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt themselves, showcases their well known books. Jacqueline is a trustee of the Museum of Childhood, so it was a particularly fantastic partnership to team up with the museum again. This is not the first time Seven Stories have sent exhibitions to the Museum of Childhood, both the 'Happy Birthday Miffy, a Celebration of the Work of Dick Bruna' and 'From the Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit, a Judith Kerr Exhibition' travelled here in previous years.

Visit the website here to find out more details.

A Vikings Guide to Deadly Dragons
Wolverhampton Art Gallery from June 14th - August 30th 2014

This is another venue that has enjoyed a Seven Stories exhibition before, also hosting the Judith Kerr Exhibition over the Summer of 2012. A beautiful venue set right in the heart of Wolverhampton, there have been plenty of marauding new Vikings visiting the exhibition already!

Visit the website here to find out more details.

A Squash and a Squeeze, Sharing Stories with Julia Donaldson
Cartwright Hall, Bradford June 28th - November 2014

This venue is brand new to the Seven Stories touring programme. Set in the gorgeous Lister Park, north of Bradford and south of Saltaire, this gallery is a complete day out for all visitors with young families. Opening next Saturday and running until November, this is your last chance to see the Gruffalo and the Julia Donaldson Exhibition before the end of the tour.

Visit the website here to find out more details.

Keep an eye on the Seven Stories website here for more details on upcoming tours.

Visitors to the Collection

Over the years, we have had quite a few fantastic and famous faces visiting our Collection store.

Here are a few images of some of comments from the lovely authors, illustrators and editors that have visited, and even a few illustrations too!

Above we have comments from a few illustrators, including Catherine Rayner and Emily Gravett, the little mouse is apt as we have some of the artwork for her book 'Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears' in the Collection. Also the author Gillian McClure, and Roger and Gill Wright, who donated the archive of Elinor Lyon.

Here we have some 'wonderful' comments from some more illustrators, including Ed Vere, Ian Beck and Anthony Browne, who has kindly provided us with a shape to transform! The comment below the cheeky monkey by Anthony Browne is from another ex-Children's Laureate, the poet Michael Rosen.

At the top of the page, we have a lovely little picture of the Incredible Book Eating Boy himself, drawn for us when Oliver Jeffers visited in 2009.

Some more fantastic comments, and a lovely little illustration from Lauren Child, whose exhibition we hosted in 2009/10. There is also a fantastic comment from John Burningham, beloved illustrator, who we also worked with for an exhibition in 2010.

One of our favourite comments from Colin McNaughton, although we won't be working any less any time soon!

A list of some of the names that visited in 2011, including Imogen and Sophie Smallwood, daughter and granddaughter of Enid Blyton, as well as a cheeky 'Lost Thing' from the very brilliant Shaun Tan.

And the final page, with our most recent comments from two very lovely new illustrators who have been filmed as part of our Picturebooks in Progress project - Yasmeen Ismail and Levi Pinfold.

Touring Exhibitions from Seven Stories

Seven Stories have been touring exhibitions for many years, travelling all around England, Wales and Scotland, and this blog post is the first of many about our ventures.

Last week was a very busy one for our team, as we travelled to Leeds and Kilmarnock to take down two separate exhibitions - Through the Magic Mirror: The World of Anthony Browne and Daydreams and Diaries: the Story of Jacqueline Wilson.

The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock where Daydreams and Diaries was on display from September 2013 to January 2014

Leeds City Museum, where Through the Magic Mirror was on display from July 2013 to January 2014

When each exhibition arrives and leaves a venue, a member of our staff goes along with it. We make sure the original objects to be put on display are in perfect condition, and make sure the installation of all the graphics and props goes to plan. 

Once all objects are removed from the display cases, they are carefully laid out to be checked, before being packed away.

Two of Jacqueline Wilson's toy monkeys, which inspired a section of 'My Sister Jodie' being packed away for safe transport back to Newcastle.

Leeds was the final venue for the Browne exhibition, but in April, the Wilson exhibition will be travelling to London, to go on display at the V&A: Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green from April 2014.

Over the Summer, we also have our exhibition A Vikings Guide to Deadly Dragons heading to Wolverhampton Art Gallery, and in February, A Squash and a Squeeze: Sharing Stories with Julia Donaldson will be opening at Chatham Historic Dockyard. Head to the Seven Stories website for more details.

To find out more about where Seven Stories touring exhibitions are heading to next, click here! 

And if you are interested in booking an exhibition for your venue, please email alison.fisher@sevenstories.org.uk or sarah.mcglynn@sevenstories.org.uk.