{"id":115426,"date":"2025-11-03T10:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/115426\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T10:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:07:08","slug":"quentin-blake-illustration-centre-to-open-in-spring-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/115426\/","title":{"rendered":"Quentin Blake illustration centre to open in spring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">T\ufeffhe UK&#8217;s first permanent home for illustration will open in central London in May to &#8220;celebrate its traditions&#8221; and welcome the &#8220;astonishing diversity&#8221; of art across the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">An 18th Century waterworks in Clerkenwell is being transformed into the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, which was previously based in King&#8217;s Cross under a different name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The \u00a312.5m centre hopes to be the &#8220;world&#8217;s largest dedicated space for illustration&#8221;, with the idea 20 years in the making. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Sir Quentin said: &#8220;I am proud to think the centre has my name on it \u2013 illustration is a wonderful universal and varied language.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Sir Quentin set up a charity for illustration in 2002 and the House of Illustration was based in rented space in King&#8217;s Cross between 2014 and 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The new centre aims to open in spring with a solo exhibition in the Grade II listed Engine House by MURUGIAH, whose brightly coloured art is inspired by film, sci-fi, Japanese anime and 2000&#8217;s era pop-punk. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration&#8217;s director Lindsey Glen said: &#8220;Every day, people all over the world use illustration to share stories and ideas \u2013 to communicate, express, inform and persuade. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Now, there will be a place where everyone can explore this important, yet overlooked art form, filled with imaginative exhibitions, installations, books, play and making.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Other attractions will include a free library, learning spaces and art highlighting  stories about the site&#8217;s 400-year history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">There will be illustrator residencies in London&#8217;s oldest surviving windmill and free public gardens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T\ufeffhe UK&#8217;s first permanent home for illustration will open in central London in May to &#8220;celebrate its traditions&#8221;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-115426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}