Author Archives: Jane Porter

Enjoy a block of bread

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The exhibition I have been creating with local Hackney Primary Schools at National Trust property Sutton House, inspired by Influential Black Londoners, is continuing to grow week by week – it’s a fantastic place to display children’s work, so much more interesting than a gallery. Last week we focused on Ignatius Sancho, and transformed the Tudor Kitchen into a grocery shop. Each child created their own product and made some original packaging for it, complete with some marketing information – I like ‘Have some fantastic peas and sweet corn, also dry beautiful beans’ and ‘These peas taste amazing, they are the best in the world’ as well as ‘Enjoy a block of bread’.

This week we looked at Francis Barber, and inspired by his connections with Samuel Johnson as well as his teaching work, I asked the children to think of their favourite word, make a printing block and then print onto a tissue collage background. It was interesting to see what words they chose: the girls – nice, love, pretty, happy; and the boys – fast, hero, amazing…

This week’s class also made a library of miniature books – my favourite is Francis Barber’s Christmas, where he is given a large parcel by Samuel Johnson. What was inside? A lovely dictionary!

The exhibition will continue to grow week by week until the end of November.

A bit of a bookshop

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I’ve just had a bulk delivery of my new books – it’s lovely to see a big pile of them after all this time in the making. ‘This Rabbit, That Rabbit’ will be published on 7th November by Walker Books.

This is the official description: “This rabbit, that rabbit … fat rabbit, flat rabbit this is a book starring two fabulous rabbits. (And an armadillo!) This new title in the Baby Walker range uses simple word play to encourage early literacy and its tactile pages and humorous illustrations will start your child on a journey to a lifelong love of books.”

I’m having a little launch-style activity morning to celebrate at the Under The Greenwood Tree Bookshop in Clapham from 10-11 – rabbit-themed craft activities for under 5s, so do drop in if you are nearby.

Meanwhile Twit, the Orion early reader by Steve Cole, is out now and there is currently a crafty competition happening – Knit Twit! Details are on the Orion Facebook page, and you have until the end of October to make your own little blue owl. Good luck!

A fabulous flotilla

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Yesterday was the official launch of the Black History Month exhibition I’ve been involved with at Sutton House, a Tudor National Trust property in Hackney. The project began for me when I designed a set of commemorative stamps for nine Influential Black Londoners, which go with letters written by historian Miranda Kaufmann based on research by a team of volunteers led by Patrick Vernon OBE.

The second part of the project has now started, where I run a weekly workshop based on each of the historic figures with a different local primary school. The first looked at Henry VIII’s trumpeter, John Blanke, and the children each made a woven paper square with their own invented heraldic emblem on it, which I’ve mounted as a group hanging from a trumpet. Then the children each wrote a letter to John Blanke, and posted it in the giant envelope. Week 2 looked at the Lascars, and we had a total of 60 children making paper boats to represent the cargo-laden ships the Asian sailors travelled on. I like the one with the tiny lifeboat on board.

The exhibition will continue to grow each week until the end of November.

Owls out!

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Today is publication day for ‘Twit’, written by Steve Cole and illustrated by me. It’s an early reader from Orion, and is a very funny story about three over-confident, bossy owls and their rather gullible little brother. A lovely way for beginner readers to build up their confidence.

Stop press: Those nice people at Orion have just launched a competition to Knit Twit – craft your own little blue owl, and send in a pic for a chance of winning a prize…all the details are here. Get busy as the closing date is the end of October!

Tudor trumpeters, men of letters and a nursing pioneer: Influential Black Londoners exhibition opens

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Today is the opening day of the exhibition I’ve worked on with the National Trust at Sutton House, Hackney. Each of the historic rooms features a letter written by historian Miranda Kaufmann to one of nine Influential Black Londoners – and she has done a superb job of bringing them to life in a most engaging way. She has written about the experience on her blog here. I’ve designed and illustrated a set of commemorative stamps, and have created giant envelopes to display them. Visitors will also be able to collect small stickers of each of the stamps as they go round the house taking part in activities related to each of the characters. Many thanks to Daisy and Sean for helping make the envelopes and mount the exhibition.

It’s been a great project to be involved in – Sutton House is a very atmospheric and interesting building and it’s a privilege to work there, but most of all it has been fascinating to learn more about the nine Influential Black Londoners and their lives – and how what they achieved and experienced has affected the course of history. In particular I have been reading extracts from Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography, which very vividly depicts his gruelling experiences on a slave ship as a young boy.

The next step in the project is the series of workshops with local schools. I’m really looking forward to starting these next week, and helping KS2 children produce some exciting new work, both 2D and 3D, to add to the exhibition. Do get along to see it if you can!

In the post with Influential Black Londoners

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I’m working with the National Trust this autumn at Sutton House, the oldest house in Hackney, on an exciting Black History Month project celebrating the lives and legacies of nine Influential Black Londoners. The project is in two parts: the first was for me to devise a creative response to each of the historic figures, and display it as an exhibition in the different rooms of this wonderful Tudor house. I decided to create a set of commemorative stamps, complete with a rubber stamp postmark – as you can see in the picture above, I have had great fun playing post offices to test them. I spent yesterday at the house putting up an exhibition with the help of two lovely students, Daisy and Sean – as it doesn’t open until Sunday I’ll post more about it all then.

Part two of the project is to run a series of eight creative workshops with local primary schools – the first is next week. I’ll report on this as it goes along, but it’s exciting to think of the exhibition growing week by week and showing the work of hundreds of young minds.

An iron Colosseum and other Eastern excitements

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Lea Valley Drift is a walking-based project aimed at encouraging exploration of unexpected, sometimes undeveloped corners of East London’s Docklands and lower Lea Valley. With map in hand I set out to follow the ten mile route – but ended up only completing half because what I found was so interesting that progress was slow. I thoroughly recommend this inspiring urban adventure – it begins with a trip on the Emirates Air Line cablecar – ten minutes high above the wide and silvery Thames, all its curves laid out below you. The vast Victoria Dock is beside you when you land – it even had a beach and billowing deckchairs this week. Trinity Buoy Wharf is approached through a gallery of street art in Orchard Place, home made soup is available in a container cafe while you watch the tugs at work. East India Dock Basin is a developing salt marsh, with ribbons of bird footprints scrawled all over at low tide. Out on the radio shack jetty 35 cormorants were gathered, sunning their wings and surveying the Dome opposite.

The Lea loops like a small intestine, and in one of the loops is a dragonfly-filled paradise, Bow Creek Ecology Park. Under the DLR track there’s a beautiful mural of reeds and rushes. A stretch of industrial park follows, conveyer belts of recycling and stacked yellow skips – and a rather macabre offering on the pavement, a box containing cows’ ankles complete with cloven hooves. A tiny tucked away memorial was next, with an eternal gas flame commemorating gas workers who died in the war. And beyond them is a forest of majestic ornate gasometer skeletons, like an iron colosseum.

Colourful canal barges offer boat rides a little further on, while a dredger was hard at work scooping mats of duckweed from the water. Three Mills and Abbey Mills Pumping Station are magnificent buildings in their own different way, and the Greenway was a revelation. The walk ended for the day at Stratford, but I am looking forward to doing the next section soon.

If you would like to try the walk, email ofroome-lewis@ucreative.ac.uk for map info!

Spiders with spoons and a giant dinosaur tooth

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I’ve had great fun working with Ladybird Books on a brand new series called First Fabulous Facts – as the name suggests, it’s non-fiction for very young readers. The first two titles, Dinosaurs and Minibeasts are out now, with two more to follow soon and another pair next year. I’ve done the cartoons, and another illustrator, Patrizia Doneara, has done the more scientific drawings. I really like the way they’ve designed the series – an appealing way to learn about the world.

Sweet Thames Run Softly

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All my life I have lived near the river Thames, and it’s a mighty body of water that I feel a very strong emotional connection to. As a child I used to love visiting the river at high tide and letting it go over the top of my wellies, and I still feel a thrill when I see the water lapping over the towpath. In the last couple of years I have taken up skiffing and punting, so I am spending more time than ever on the water, enjoying seeing the river and its wildlife up close in all seasons. I’m also very involved in one of the tributaries, the Wandle, through local environmental organisation The Wandle Trust which organises monthly river clean-ups.

I’ve now been given a wonderful opportunity to create an exhibition for The Art Cabin, and I think the Thames is going to be my subject. I’ve started a bit of drawing and collaging, observing herons, grebes, grey wagtails and my favourites, the cormorants. I’ve also been delving into one of my most treasured books, Sweet Thames Run Softly, by Robert Gibbings. (there is a marvellous British Pathe film clip of Gibbings walking by the river here). Gibbings was a writer and woodcut artist who built his own small boat on the eve of the second world war, and paddled the whole of the river, from Lechlade back to London. The book is a beautifully illustrated account of the journey. Back in May I did the same journey over four days by skiff, and have been sketching out some ideas for linocuts inspired by my own trip.

It’s very exciting to be at this stage of a project – it could go in any direction, any media and at the moment there are no constraints. I’ll post more news on the project soon.