'Hello! from Austraila' as part of the Nami Island International Children's Book Festival

Hello! from Australia
We are so thrilled to be able to report that the Hello! From Australia exhibition we first curated for the 2012 Bologna Book Fair has just opened it’s fourth showing in South Korea as part of the 6^th Nami Island International Children’s Book Festival from 25 April to 31 May 2013. The Nami Island committee have done a stunning job of adapting this exhibition to fit their venue.


Since this exhibition opening, we have been even more thrilled to hear that the National Library in Soul has received 20 requests for the exhibition and have asked if it can stay in South Korea for next 12 months to cater for at least 10 exhibitions in local cities!  Miss Hyo-jin Lee from the Australia-Korea Foundation, Australian Embassy Seoul, who we have been working with on this exhibition will meet with Tourism and State Offices on how to promote this and Australia to these host cities.

Goodbye Australia, Hello Korea! - Nami Island

We left Melbourne on a 35 degree day and stepped out of Incheon Airport, South Korea, to minus 3 degrees and snow! 

Our first day was an adventure we'd been really looking forward to - a visit to Nami Island - the very tiny Naminara Republic of Korea. At the Nami office in Seoul we met Fred Minn (grandson of Nami Island founder,  Min Byaong-do) publisher of NAMI Books, and Olivia who was our guide for the day.

The ferry ride vistas were teeth shatteringly beautiful - luckily the journey took only ten minutes - The island celebrates peace, nature and creativity - the core values of its founder, Mr Min Byaong-do.
We spent a wonderful day exploring with our very generous host,  Bobby Minn, also grandson of the founder.

Nami is host to many cultural events and exhibitions including NAMBOOK, an International Children's Book Festival, and the Asia Folk Music Festival.

Our very own Frane Lessac & Susanne  Gervay were guests at the Nambook Festival in 2010 when they painted the rock photographed below!

Nami is also the major sponsor of the Hans Christian Anderson Medal, administered by IBBY.
This year from April through May, Nami will host Nambook-013 and the Inaugural Nami Island Illustration Concours for Picture Book Illustrations (NiiiC).

We met the marvelous and very generous Mr Kang Woo Hyon, artist, illustrator and President of Nami Island, and spent precious time in his studio.

News from Nami Island

Nami Island is a major sponsor of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. 

The president of Nami Island is Mr Kang, who has been an author & illustrator since 1980 and now focuses his creativity chiefly on Nami Island.

Here are some pics of his paintings, playful sculpture and studio. Later that day when visiting him in his studio I remembered that we'd meet before and corresponded about trying to set up a KOREAN/AUSTRALIAN illustration exhibition in 1996!

King Kang

Snow sculptures

Internal Reflections

Mr Kang signs a cup for Ann Haddon

Mr Kang painting for Ann in his studio

My painting by Mr Kang!

Inside Mr Kang's Studio

Travelling exhibitions

Exhibition in Korea: Hello! from Australia 

We are looking forward to installing the ‘Hello from Australia’ exhibition at the Korea Cultural Foundation Gallery in Seoul on February 11. Leaving tomorrow, it's going to be an exciting trip. 

This is the promotional print exhibition shown at the 2102 Bologna Book Fair. These promotional exhibitions are an initiative of Books Illustrated and the Australian Publishers Association to promote a range of contemporary picture books through an exhibition of specially selected images from these books, presented as giclee digital prints. When invited to take this exhibition to Korea, we added a section onThe Lost Thing by Shaun Tan - from book to film, the DVD being screened as part of this extended exhibition.

During our visit we will  take part in workshops, talks and we'll visit Nami Island – also known in Korea as the Republic of the Imagination - more on this later!

This is the third venue for this exhibition in Korea, and with requests from some regional libraries, it looks like the tour will continue into 2013!