Michael Foreman Childrens Writer Painting With Rainbows Exhibition

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Preston’s Harris Centre art gallery is currently hosting a lovely exhibition of the writing and art of children’s book illustrator and writer Michael Foreman. His illustrations have included covers for books by Roald Dahl and (for adults, J G Ballard), but the exhibition focuses on Foreman’s own books which were left around for visitors to read through. Foreman may be the luckiest writer alive. His Lowestoft childhood home was hit by an incendiary bomb in 1941 which came down his chimney bounced off his bed while he was in it and set fire to the far wall of his room. His brother was an ARP warden and managed to extinguish the blaze. He wrote stories of his delight at having soldiers billeted in the town, and American GI’s visiting for tea during leave, but he was saddened to find his favourite beach closed and sealed off with barbed wire. One of his finest books is Ali Pasha, about a tortoise found by one of his neighbours during the fight for Gallipoli in the First World War. The neighbour brought Ali Pasha home and the tortoise survived into the 1980’s. The art gallery at the Harris has its shell on display alongside the book. Another powerful book for young children is One World which really gets the ecology message home. A brother and sister find a beach rock pool and use a bucket of water to add creatures from it to their own little micro-eco-system, but some oil from a slick they add for colour slowly poisons their little World which teaches them a valuable lesson many grown-ups still need to grasp. A great exhibition and some terrific writings / art – I recommend him for those shopping for Xmas books for the younger generation. Arthur Chappell