Jackie Morris is a prize-winning, internationally best-selling illustrator, wildlife artist, and author, best known for her children’s books, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells – collaborations with Robert Macfarlane. The exhibition will include over 250 original artworks from over 30 of her books.
The exhibition is set in three parts, beginning with a timeline of Jackie’s life and career, including her early works and original sketches from her many books, including The Ice Bear and The White Fox to Tell Me A Dragon and Lord of the Forest.
Jackie Morris commented: “When I was asked if I might consider exhibiting at Rheged I was excited, interested, and intrigued.
“I’d heard of the centre but was yet to visit it. When I realised the breadth of the vision the team had in mind for the show, as well as the size of the exhibition space I was blown away.
“Rheged is such a wonderful place, to visit and to show work. The team is amazing to work with, I hope the show will help my work reach a new audience, inspire people in their creativity, and bring peace and healing in these difficult times.”
The second part of the exhibition, created by Warwickshire art gallery, Compton Verney, with Hamish Hamilton and Penguin Books, is dedicated to, Lost Words; a unique collaboration between Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.
From Lost Words, the exhibition moves on to its sequel Lost Spells: Listening to a Landscape of Voices. This exhibition was developed in association with Penguin Books and commissioned and produced by Northumberland National Park.
Gallery manager, Claire Harrison said: “Over the last year, we have very much enjoyed working closely with Jackie to create this exhibition.
“Jackie is extremely talented and prolific in every art form- painting, writing, illustrating, and journaling.
“We have been extremely lucky to bring such a sheer volume of Jackie’s original artwork together and hope to take visitors on a truly magical journey in our Gallery, which includes everything from dragons and bears to British wildlife.
“Jackie has been so open, supportive, and trusting with us when creating this exhibition and we cannot wait for people to see it.”