Exhibition of children’s art inspired by the works of Enid Blyton

Since October, more than 100 mainly local children have contributed to the exhibition, creating their own enchanted space inspired by the author’s Faraway Tree stories to run alongside the gallery’s current exhibition Mystery, Magic and Midnight Feasts: The Many Adventures of Enid Blyton.

This developed as they worked with local artists Karen Thompson and Joanna Venus, exploring ideas and taking inspiration from objects from the Scarborough Collections, including taxidermy, birds and bugs. The centrepiece is a nine-foot tall tree comprising individual branches created by the children.

Karen said: “Bringing it all together into a coherent structure was a bit of a feat of engineering, but we think it’s worth it.”

Contributors include members of the Museums Trust’s Saturday morning art club, Make It!, visitors to Scarborough Art Gallery during February half-term, local home-educated students who attended a series of workshops at the Gallery, and regular pre-school attendees, who meet for Mini Mornings at Scarborough Art Gallery on Thursday mornings. The youngest exhibitor is just eight weeks old – Leo contributed a butterfly made using his footprints (with a little help from mum).

Education officer Rosie Goodwin said: “We’re delighted to be able to showcase work by so many young people. The feedback from visitors has been incredibly positive and people have been really impressed with the high quality of work from such young artists.”

Mystery, Magic and Midnight Feasts, the first ever major exhibition celebrating the life and work of Enid Blyton, created by Seven Stories National Centre for Children's Books, can also be seen at Scarborough Art Gallery until June 26. The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm every day except Monday.