Review: Opening Night of HeARTlines Children’s Literature and Illustration Festival on Friday 19 May

Published : May 20, 2017

An art exhibition featuring drawings, paintings, and sketches created by Australian and international children’s book illustrators.

Words: Juanita Pirozzi

Presented by the Mundaring Arts Centre, the festival’s opening night was a showcase of the 93 illustration artworks which were on display throughout the Midland Junction Arts Centre.

With artistic creations to admire such as prints of oil paintings, pencil sketches, colourful drawings, and graphic novel samples; it was interesting to see an artist’s level of detail in order to make the children’s book narratives come alive. Several of the artworks in the exhibition were featured in the recently published children’s books which were also on display.

Whale Song illustrated by Matt Ottley.

After spending time admiring the artworks whilst enjoying the tasty pizza slices with a glass of wine; we were asked to make our way to the auditorium for the evening’s formalities.

Jenny Haynes, the Director of the Mundaring Arts Centre, gave an introductory speech about what the HeARTlines Children’s Literature and Illustration Festival has to offer. Meg McKinlay, the well-known children’s author and poet, spoke of how children will benefit from the creative activities available at this festival as “the arts are part of the fabric of our lives.” David Lucas, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Swan, then declared the festival officially open.

The HeARTlines Children’s Literature and Illustration Festival will be an entertaining but most importantly educational literary event for children. As mentioned in the speeches, the festival will have workshops, author talks, and demonstrations that will initiate a child’s knowledge of culture and the arts.

Galahs illustrated by Jennifer and Alexander Hills.
Illustration from Bush Surprises: Rhymes for a Hidden Alphabet by Frances Maber.

We were then treated to live music by eight students from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Dressed in 1970’s fashion with flower printed shirts, tie die flares and denim overalls, these students performed a rendition of The Butterfly Ball. This was based on the 1970’s children’s poem and album by Roger Glover.

I spent the remainder of the evening browsing the lovely artworks on display. It was impressive to see how various forms of graphics from children’s books can inspire them to be more creative. Visual arts such as those available at this exhibition will also influence children to start; if not continue reading books. Judging by the various children’s books on sale at the Midland Junction Arts Centre, it was encouraging to see that today’s youth can maintain this form of analogue culture.

Pepsi illustrated by Aska.

The HeARTlines Children’s Literature and Illustration Festival 2017 runs from Saturday 20 May to Wednesday 21 June. The art exhibition viewing times are Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am – 3pm.
Please visit the Mundaring Arts Centre website for more festival information.