Through the Magic Mirror: The World of Anthony Browne

Through the Magic Mirror is at Seven Stories from April 2011- March 2012

This unique exhibition developed as part of Anthony's Children's Laureateship brings Anthony's books to life: visitors can enter his family home, complete with family photographs and artefacts, as well as artwork from My Mum and My Dad; walk through the back yard from Changes; take a stroll in the park or visit a life-size gorilla in the zoo, showcasing artwork from Little Beauty. Visitors can also enter the forest where Anthony Browne’s fairytale adaptations can be found, including Hansel and Gretel, Me and You, Bear Hunt and The Tunnel. The last stop before exiting the gallery is to visit the gallery within a gallery and play Anthony Browne’s The Shape Game.

This is the first exhibition of Anthony's work on this scale in the UK, taking into account his whole career in illustration from 1976 to the present day. Anthony says: ‘I am so pleased that Seven Stories has created this exhibition that looks retrospectively at my life and work in such an imaginative way.’

The exhibition opened at Seven Stories in Newcastle on Saturday 9 April 2011 and will run until Wednesday 14 March 2012, then will tour nationally the following year. Funding has been secured from Arts Council England to support a UK tour.

The Picture Book Project

Linking to the exhibition, The Picture Book project is a collaboration between Seven Stories and Action for Children, a UK children’s charity working with around 20,000 children, young people and their families. Artwork produced by some of the 400 children who took part is displayed in an exhibition in the Book Den at Seven Stories.

Initially, Action for Children’s St Anthony’s Children’s House in Newcastle worked intensively with Seven Stories to pilot different creative techniques with the children they support. As part of this work they met Anthony to share his picture books and play the Shape Game, and produced a film about the creative activity Anthony’s books inspired, which can also be seen as part of the exhibition.

Following this pilot, staff from 24 other Action for Children projects across the UK were trained by Seven Stories staff to use picture books as a starting point to develop creative play and activities with children under eight and their families. These skills were then passed on to colleagues and parents at their projects. Creative workshops encouraged children and parents to explore and take inspiration from the fantastic picture books of Anthony and other author/illustrators

Approximately 400 children and 180 parents took part in the project, and the creative results of the workshops are displayed in an exhibition at Seven Stories alongside Through the Magic Mirror. June McHale of St Anthony’s Children’s House commented: ‘I don’t think any of the children will look at a book in the same way they did before the project started. I think they will look at the pictures in much more depth, and this experience will last them a lifetime.’

Anthony says: ‘I’m delighted to be supporting this partnership between Action for Children and Seven Stories. This project is all about demonstrating how valuable picture books can be for children and those close to them, providing unique opportunities to talk, to listen, to offer time and support, but most of all, to have fun. The fabulous artwork produced shows just how far picture books can help to stimulate children’s creativity, allowing them to set free their imaginations and providing space for their individual voices to be heard.’