Sometimes, there is nothing more lovely than seeing art inspiring the hearts and imaginations of children.
Alfred’s Adventure in the Children’s City is a new children’s book with illustrations by Rose Feather and text by Imogen Alexander and Rose Feather, which will fill both young and old with delight.
Collaged images of Kettle’s Yard House and artworks by Alfred Wallis transform both into a playful picture book that will enchant those that have been missing art, adventure and the enticing promise of the sea. Produced as part of Play and Picture Books, an early years literacy project funded by Talking Together in Cambridgeshire and delivered by Kettle’s Yard and the Red Hen Project, art based workshops with families in North Cambridge helped to inspire the story.
‘Every page is inspired by drawings I made during the sessions with the brilliant families of North Cambridge’, says Rose Feather. ‘This story has been rolled in sand, wrapped in gingham, covered in bubbles and dressed up as a fish’.
Fishes and lobster pots, circa 1936 (Kettle’s Yard collection)
Images are made using found materials, like Alfred Wallis’ own works. ‘Two Boats’ was painted on the back of a Selfridge’s box lid, with paint reclaimed from boat chandlers. ‘I am self taught so you cannot like me to those that have been taught both in school and in paint’, Wallis once said. ‘I never got out to paint, nor I never show them’.
This book will enchant children and adults of all ages and is a wonderful way to increase access to art in current times. Parents at bed time will find this a welcome relief, bringing with it the scent of imagination, play and nautical adventure. Children will love learning how the story was made, it may even inspire them to try creating their own.
Two Boats c.1928 Alfred Wallis 1855-1942 Bequeathed by Mrs Doris Sealy 1975 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T01970
You can buy one from the Kettle’s Yard shop and gift one to a family, in partnership with the Red Hen Project here:
Alfred Wallis was a Cornish mariner and self taught artist who turned to painting to combat loneliness, after the death of his wife in 1922. He worked as a scrap merchant by trade, but to many embodies the idea of the ‘outsider artist’. His admirers included Modernists Christopher Wood, Ben Nicholson with Jim Ede, founder of Kettle’s Yard a huge collector of his work.
The Red Hen Project https://www.redhenproject.org/
Kettle’s Yard https://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/