Exhibition ends on Tuesday - last chance to see!

Last chance to see Fabula's work across three rooms in Hove Museum and The Wish Tree, The Story Cabinet and loads of drawings done in response to the exhibition.

The Wish Tree - our response to your wishes

Many Ways To Tell A Story  - Fabula Collective's exhibition at Hove Museum ends next Tuesday 9th May. We've enjoyed it so much! It's been wonderful to see all the comments in the comments book and we loved the wishes that you put in the wish box - and so we made this tree!

In case you didn't see it - we had a box on the mantlepiece for people to put their wishes in to give their response to the Story Cabinet: our collaborative piece based around fairy tales. The wishes we received ranged from requests for new fairy tales for us to make to personal wishes and wishes for the planet. All wishes have been thought of - some have been incorporated into the actual tree whilst others hang from the branches. Your response to the Wishbox inspired this work and will probably inspire yet further work for us as we may tackle individual fairy tale requests too at a later date - thank you for taking part. 

If you look closely at the tree you may see some feet, perhaps hands  - can you see a face? How many mushrooms can you find? There's still time to see! 

The fun is still continuing until Tuesday - tomorrow you can also catch children's Laureate Chris Riddell at the Museum where he will be doing some live drawing and a book signing.
http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/hove/whats-on/#!an-afternoon-with-chris-riddell

Drawing event. 

This was a huge success and wonderful to see your drawings - thanks to everyone that took part and well done to Lara ( age 6) who won the prize draw at our event last Saturday!

Lara age 6

Many people drew in response to something in the museum - upstairs or downstairs. You can see these drawings until Sunday on display at the museum next to their inspiration

Drawing inspired by Somin Ahn's Three Little Pigs

Drawing inspired by Louise Dennis's Installation

Drawing inspired by Clara Weifu's Grandpa's Fantastic Garden

We also had drawings submitted that were sequential drawings and some where the artist was clearly making up a story of their own. A big thank you to everyone that joined in.

A selection of Drawings 

Workshop last weekend

Here's a selection of photos from last weekends workshop. It was great fun - children made all manner of beautiful creations from natural and recycled materials.  Watch out for more workshops by Fabula Collective in the future!

That mushroom needs some sparkle!

A small room with smartie curtains - who is sleeping in the bed?

A house with a special roof and a tower next door

This three-year-old concentrate to build a tower out of cardboard

A little room with three windows and a mouse to look at when you're in bed.

Fancy mushroom!

This character in her red hat sits on her reclining smartie chair and watches TV with her pet

The artist with her finished room - complete with disco ball

Mushrooms and a tree at the same time! - I wonder where this artist got the idea for this from?

So many ways to make characters

See you again soon!

Children's Event Today! - and What's Growing in Hove Museum?

At Hove Museum

Saturday 29th April 

from 12 - 4.30 pm

See an exhibition of all the fantastic drawings from people who have taken part in our drawing event. 

Win some art materials in the prize draw - children who entered their drawing will have their names drawn out of a hat. It's also not too late to draw and enter on the day!)

Enjoy a treasure hunt  that will take you all over the museum with pictures to match and clues to work out. When you've finished choose an ink stamp to use to decorate your treasure sheet.

Join in an Art and craft workshop making and drawing. Here's just one example of what you could make at the museum today!

Loads of natural and recycled materials to choose from. You can make a tower like this - who would live here?

Something else is going on... we are building something new for you to see on 29th. It's our response to your wishes in the wish box - but what will it become? Here are some visual clues....

Tiles - lots of them, covered in different materials.

Familiar materials, what will they become?

Tall structures developing...

Magical mushrooms! 

A dark forest of mushrooms - makes us want to play with scale and story. What could happen here?

Detail of pattern. Mushrooms lined up have character of their own.

A close up. Big mushroom!

But it grew into more than this - it grew even bigger than this!

Come and see!

One Week Left To Join In!

Our drawing event is on until (and including) next Saturday 29th April.  Come along to Hove Museum and draw, draw, draw! We have made some frames for you to use if you would like. Then children can have their drawing entered into a prize draw to win art materials on April 29th. 

Anyone can enter our Instagram exhibition. Put it on yourself at #fabulacollective or leave your drawings at the museum and we will put them on Instagram for you and also exhibit them in the galleries on our: 

Children's fun day at Hove Museum on 

29th April from 12 - 4.30pm.  

As well as the prize draw there will be a treasure hunt and an art and craft workshops to join in with and Fabula members will be there to meet you all. 

Here are some of the great drawings we have had so far - to see more go to Instagram and search for #fabulacollective

Drawings by Layla, Andy, Eric, Billy, Gelareh and Catherine

Your Fabulous Drawings!

Some great examples below of drawings that have been done at Hove Museum by people taking part in our drawing event. We have received all sorts of different responses from people of all ages who have been inspired to draw at the museum.

By Eric

Thank you for leaving your drawings at the museum - or emailing them to us - we will post them on Instagram at #fabulacollective and you can see them again there. Children taking part who have left their work at the museum will also be entered into a prize draw. Names will be pulled out of a hat at our event on 29th April to win art materials.

For further information go to fabulacollective.com

By Erin age 7

By Alfie age 13

You will be able to see the actual drawings exhibited at Hove Museum on April 29th - come and see if you can work out where the inspiration came from.

By Nghia

By Sam

By Evie aged 4

To look at the drawings on Instagram go to @fabulacollective or #fabulacollective. We're looking forward to seeing more of them too! 

Fabulous write up in The Argus!

Thanks to Edwin Gilson for this fabulous write up about our drawing event in The Argus on Friday - did you see it? It's great to have the support of The Argus and we hope that as many local people as possible will now be able to take part in our drawing event - and enter an online exhibition and prize draw. Then come to our children's fun day on April 29th with loads of fun activities planned. Then after that see Children's Laureate Chris Riddell at the museum on May 6th for more creative fun. There's lots going on at Hove Museum  - come and join in!  

For more information about these Fabula events please go to fabulacollective.com 

Information about Chris Riddells event can be found at:

http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/hove/whats-on/#!an-afternoon-with-chris-riddell

Fabulous drawings shown are by Catherine, Gelareh and Eric - all inspired by exhibits at Hove Museum

How To Join In The Story!

All about our drawing event

Illustration by Clara WeiFu

The short story: 

• First come to the museum during opening hours in April.

• Choose a frame - Fabula have drawn some for you to use if you like. 

• Choose something to draw in any of the galleries.

• Draw it.

• Photograph it and post it on Instagram with #fabulacollective 

• Or email to us at fabulacollective@gmail.com and we will post it for you.

• Leave it at the desk if you want it to be in the prize draw and pop up exhibition on Fabula Fun Day, 29th April at Hove Museum.*

Visual instructions by Clara Weifu

*Please leave drawings in the museum by the 23rd April for them to be included in the pop up exhibition at the museum. The prize draw is for children only.

The long story:

There is no right way to do this but here are some thoughts we had that may help you. 

Our exhibition is all about different ways to tell stories and it's being shown in a museum containing objects that have stories to tell. 

Please draw anything that inspires you!

• Drawing and looking closely can create a special way to remember your experience. 

• Perhaps you will wonder about this object or art work - how was made, what has happened to it, what does it remind you of? 

• This could help your imagination while you draw. 

• You could draw one object or several on one page. 

• Maybe it will be purely a drawing from observation or perhaps it will join with your imagination as well. 

• You don't have to be a great artist either - anyone can have a go and join in. 

We like the idea of each drawing having the potential to inspire a new story and we are hoping for an eclectic mix of images from people of all ages. We think the Instagram exhibition will make a brilliant online story of it's own!

Happy drawing and story making!

Be part of the story - come and draw at Hove Museum!

Drawing in the museum and then a children's event and prize draw!

Museums are full of objects that make you think of stories and that makes them great places to draw and let your imagination wander. As part of our current exhibition - Many Ways To Tell A Story - we are holding a drawing event throughout April hosted by Hove Museum.  

Children's Laureate Chris Riddell, (who made us a hand drawn poster to publicise our show) spoke to us about how drawing can help to make objects and experiences memorable. We agree - we want to help children connect with the things that they see on display in any of the galleries. We want everyone to come and draw in the museum! 

Fabula love stories and we see this as an opportunity to make a big story online and that perhaps each individual drawing could be the inspiration for a story of its own. You don't have to be a great artist to take part and anyone can join in - it's not just for the kids!

How to join in

During museum opening hours in April have a good look around Hove Museum and find something to draw in one of the galleries. It could be something in our exhibition or something in the museum collections upstairs. 

Illustration by Clara WeiFu

Frame your work

We have made some decorative frames for you to use if you would like to. There are seven frames to choose from at the museum or you could draw your own. Or just use plain paper.

Then look, draw and imagine - however you want to join in. 

Be in an exhibition!

Online exhibition: After you have done your drawing post it on Instagram #fabulacollective or email your drawing to us at fabulacollective@gmail.com so that it can become part of an online exhibition.
Museum exhibition: If you'd like your drawing to be exhibited in the museum as well then leave it at the front desk.

Full details are available at the museum.

Come to an event

To celebrate everyones' drawings and the end of the exhibition come to:

Fabula Fun Day on 29th April from 12.00 - 4.30pm at Hove Museum.

Come and see your drawing exhibited in the museum, take part in a treasure trail, a prize draw, an arty-crafty workshop and have a chance to handle museum objects. 

Prize Draw!
All children who have drawn in the museum can be entered into a prize draw. Names will be pulled out of a hat to win some lovely art materials. Leave your drawing at the main desk to be entered into the prize draw. 

Wish box response

The Story Cabinet team are working hard towards a response to all the wishes we received in the small box near the mantlepiece - the wishbox. So, when you come on April 29th there will be more to see!

Thank you to everyone who put their wishes in the wishbox.

One of three cabinets that make up The Story Cabinet. This is our collaborative piece all about Fairy tales.

Chris Riddell comes to see Many Ways To Tell A Story

Children's Laureate Chris Riddell came to see our exhibition at Hove Museum so we just had to tell you about it...

Thank you to Chris Riddell for this hand drawn poster

It was very special to have Chris Riddell - children's laureate and successful, talented illustrator - visiting our exhibition. Knowing that he must be very busy we were delighted that he was so generous with his time.  It was fun walking around and talking with him as he commented on the art work and gave professional advice in a warm and self deprecating way. He also shared his fond memories of bringing his children to Hove Museum when they were small.

Chris even made this poster to help spread the word - we hope you can come and see this 'magical exhibition' for yourself.

The show is all about stories told in many ways and because of the variety of work, it appeals to all ages. We are very keen to spread the word about Hove Museum too because if you haven't experienced this gem of a museum yet you are really missing a treat.

Chris discussed doing an event with Fabula in the near future (exciting!) - we will keep you posted!

Fabula Word Project Is Back!

As you may know we have been very busy exhibiting but soon we are going to return to our wonderful word project. This has been an exciting project for us in the past because all of our members UK and overseas can be involved. It's always fun to see different interpretations of the same word and a challenge to try and respond to whatever is suggested.

We thought we'd post a selection of past words here to wet your appetite for more that will come soon...

Clockwise from top left: by Louise Dennis, Juliette Rajak, Madeleine Swift and Nele Anders.

The way that it works is that each new word is put forward by a different Fabula member for everyone to respond to. It isn't just single images that have been inspired by this project but also small sequences or stories - for example 'A Square' by Somin Ahn (a short story about a cat - see previous post about Somin Ahn) and 'Give Me A Cuddle' by Jay Eunji Lee.

Clockwise from top left: by Clara Weifu, Nele Anders, Penelope Chong, Louise Dennis, Somin Ahn, and Juliette Rajak.

We find it a creative way to work together across continents and a good way to inspire new work. We will be posting our next words soon - so watch this space!

Clockwise from top left: by Clara Weifu, Jay Eunji Lee, Katherine Perrett, Louise Dennis and bottom left by Juliette Rajak.

Thank You So Much For Your Comments

Thanks to everyone who has already visited Many Ways To Tell A Story at Hove Museum. We've been delighted with the comments that have been left for us in the comments book  - it's wonderful to find out what you think of the exhibition. We thought we'd post a couple of comments here to show what the response has been and to say a big 'thank you'.

Views expressed in the comments book

Thanks to Elena (above) and to Emma and Natalie for these comments (below) - we're glad you enjoyed the show and thanks for sharing your thoughts about it. Just to answer your question - the Cinderella parts of The Story Cabinet were made by different Fabula artists and it's hard to say exactly how long these details took. The Story Cabinet altogether took about three months to make with a team of us doing it. It felt like we were working on it all the time for a while so it was a good job we loved making it!  It was fun coming up with ideas, working together and imagining what it would look like when it was finished. 

More comments - thank you for these

We are so excited to see that you have also been posting suggestions for us about new things to make for The Story Cabinet. A big thank you to everyone that has suggested something for us to add - we will be responding soon!

The exhibition Many Ways To Tell A Story is on at Hove Museum & Art Gallery until May 9th.
17 artists respond to stories old and new - loads to see for all ages and it's free!
Reviews:
The Argus Guide
The January 2017 issue of VIVA magazine page 58-59

Also, don't miss the next story themed creative workshop for children run by Fabula members on 28th January at 10.30 at Hove Museum and Art Gallery. See previous blog post here for a taste of what to expect.

Fabula Workshops at Hove Museum

The next workshop "Toy Stories"at Hove museum will be at 10.30 on Saturday 28th January. 

This is a creative workshop for children aged 7+ based on making story books inspired by characters in the toy collection and throughout the museum. Further details from:

http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/hove/whats-on/#!toy-stories or at the end of this post.

Read about our previous two creative workshops to get an idea of what to expect!....

Crackers!

Before Christmas families enjoyed this story-themed workshop at Hove Museum. Everyone had seen our exhibition Many Ways To Tell A Story beforehand (still on until May 9th at Hove Museum) and they were ready for some of their own story making.  Grown ups joined in and it was a lively family session!

The tables were laden with making materials, wrapping papers, foil, sequins, glitter, ribbons and glue as well as an abundance of recycled toilet rolls! Time to make some Christmas crackers!

Families in the process of making and two children show their crackers off proudly

Fabula member Juliette Rajak kicked off the proceedings by explaining how these were going to be different from normal Christmas crackers - how the children could use small toy animals, worry dolls, pom poms and their imaginations for inspiration to help them come up with stories to put inside.

Some children did lots of writing while others mainly made images. You could almost see the brain activity as the children started thinking about how they were going to tackle it - and it was tackled in as many different ways as there were children in the room. Some told touching tales about animals inspired by the worry dolls. There were stories that were based on fairy tales - perhaps inspired by the exhibition. There was a three-dimensional story with a secret part, a comic strip with no words, a miniature book made to go into the cracker - and more.  The whole room was sparkling with children's ideas (and glitter)!

One child carefully writes her story

The story, written and illustrated

Then we explained how to make the crackers themselves - placing the cracker snap inside, wrapping, twisting, a little bit of ribbon and hey presto!

Each cracker was individually crafted and unique and decorated both inside and out.  The children seemed very pleased with what they had made and some crackers were taken from the workshop very carefully wrapped up - we suspected they were going to be special Christmas presents.

Wrapping up the story to hide it in the cracker

This workshop certainly got us in the Christmas mood - we hope you all had a happy Christmas!

Story Houses

If you've already been to our exhibition then you'll know about The Story Cabinet - our collaborative piece made predominantly from cardboard and based around fairy tales. Likewise this workshop was inspired by fairy tales and makes use of lots of cardboard!

A house is a great place to stage a story: many fairy tales feature a house in the woods. The house could be friendly, a place of safety, mysterious, dangerous or magical. It might be different on the inside - not what it seems from the outside. Houses are also the place where our real life stories take place and children play with miniature versions - dolls houses and wendy houses.

A snowy house with smoke coming out of the chimney and a bit of magic sparkle on the roof

The children didn't need much encouragement to stage their own stories. Using pens, papers, fabrics, glue and their imaginations they set to work.

The concentration was evident as they got involved in the details of their individual creations. Their grown-ups joined in and offered assistance - at times seeming that they wanted to make their own house too! But the children had very definite ideas about what should be included and what should not. This child (above and below) spent ages on the details getting it just right

A very detailed house with individual bricks drawn and decorated with coloured fabrics

This child (below) focussed on who lived in the house. A funny story emerged around a penguin in the shower, a frog eating flies and a female super hero!

Inside the house live the penguin and the frog...

...and the super hero (girl)

And then the outside was collaged and drawn to make a flower garden.

A sleeping bird peeps out of the door - making it four occupants of this house

The inside is hidden (but you can peep through the window) and the roof is put on. 

There was lovely relaxed atmosphere as everyone got into their creative zone. We all worked right up to the end of the session - there's never enough time when your ideas start flowing!

Then, just before we said goodbye, we lit the houses up with candles (battery operated!) and turned the lights off

The house looked magical when they were all lit up

The next workshop "Toy Stories"at the museum will be at 10.30 on Saturday 28th January - we hope you can come! 

This is a creative workshop for children aged 7+ based on making story books inspired by characters in the toy collection and throughout the museum. It  will be facilitated by Fabula members Juliette Rajak and Louise Dennis. Further details from:

http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/hove/whats-on/#!toy-stories 

Admission
You can buy tickets by telephoning the Events Booking line on 03000 290902 (Mon-Fri) or in person at any of our venues. You can also email visitor.services@brighton-hove.gov.uk if you have any queries. A £1.50 booking fee may apply to some events. Tickets cannot be reserved without payment.

£5 per child, members £4 per child, advance booking advisable. 7 years and over. 

Just bring your imagination!