London’s House of Illustration has announced it will soon be evolving into the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration: the world’s largest public arts space dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will be home to exhibition galleries, education studios, events spaces and a shop and cafe, all set in half an acre of landscaped outdoor space in central London.
It will also become a permanent home for the archive of House of Illustration founder, Sir Quentin Blake, after whom it will be named.
“I am enormously to have my name associated with this international home for an art which I know and love,” commented Sir Quentin, “and for artists who speak in a myriad of visual languages, but are understood by all. It is going to be amazing.”
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is due to open in autumn 2022 at the historic New River Head site in Islington, London.
The site comprises four 18th and 19th century industrial buildings that were instrumental in the history of London’s fresh drinking water supply.
These historic buildings will be redeveloped by award-winning architecture practice Tim Ronalds Architects, making them accessible to the public for the first time ever.
If there’s a down side to this, it’s that in order to dedicate House of Illustration resources to this exciting new project, the organisation is closing House of Illustration at 2 Granary Square, King’s Cross.
“Since 2014 we have welcomed more than 250,000 visitors to our temporary space in King’s Cross to see our exhibitions, participate in creative workshops and engage in debate about illustration,” a statement reads.
“We are so grateful to our visitors, to the artists and organisations we have worked with, to our funders and supporters and to the staff and volunteers who have made House of Illustration such a special place.
“We are now looking forward to expanding our work in a permanent home that will make our organisation sustainable and better serve our growing audiences.
“Until we reopen, our work will continue offsite through a series of education and events programmes and touring exhibitions.”
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Comic Art, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions, Other Worlds
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