Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Gumnut Babies!

Today, 5th December, is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Gumnut Babies by May Gibbs! 

This teeny little book was the first in a huge and much beloved series in Australia, which included the popular Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, The Adventures of Ragged Blossom, and Little Obelia, introduced the concept of fairies in the Australian bush and landscape. 

May Gibbs, who adored Australian fauna and flora, saw the Australian bush as a magical place and these tiny creatures, and the supporting cast of talking animals and scary Banksia men, were characters she felt were constantly present but just beyond our vision. Her artistic depiction of Australian flora, in particular, was  - and remains - stunning and, with the aid of these Australia faerie characters, helped generations grow up with a special appreciation of the beauty in the harsh landscape of Australia and its potential for magic. She grew to be Australia's best-know and most enduring children's author. Though she didn't publish her first volume, Gumnut Babies, until she was 38, the popularity of her work meant that, unlike many other artists and writers of that era, she was able to make a living from her illustrations and writing.

Souriante (self portrait, smiling)
by May Gibbs, c.1923

First published on 5 December 1916, and retailing at one shilling and sixpence. the first print run of 3,000 books sold out before Christmas. The characters, cute, innocent anthropomorphised gumnuts and gum-blossoms were extremely popular with the war weary public in Australia. (source)

2016 marks the centenary of the publication of May Gibbs' Gumnut Babies. This much-loved book introduced Australian children to the Gumnut Babies, small imaginary inhabitants of the Australian bush. The Gumnut Babies resemble human babies but wear little gumnut hats and gumleaf girdles. The girls, called Gum Blossom Babies, wear frilly skirts made of eucalyptus blossom and have little blossom caps. These tiny fairies of the bush live among the gum trees with other bush babies, such as the Boronia Babies, Wattle Babies and Flannel Flower Babies.

The bushlands and wonderful wildflowers of the region gave May a deep and abiding love of Australian flora and fauna. After studying art in England, in 1913 she returned to Australia and wrote and illustrated Gumnut Babies, the first of her 18 books on a bush theme. May Gibbs' stories, illustrated with her watercolour and pen-and-ink drawings, are now regarded as classics of Australian children's literature.  (source)

When May Gibbs died in 1969, she left her estate to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and all her artworks, papers and copyright to the NSW Society for Crippled Children (now The Northcott Society) and the Spastic Centre of NSW (now the Cerebral Palsy Alliance). In 1970 the two charities presented the May Gibbs archive to the State Library of NSW.
                           
To celebrate this anniversary, the State Library of New South Wales is hosting a free display featuring the original illustrations and beautiful reproductions from May Gibbs' much loved children’s books. 

May Gibbs: Celebrating 100 years is on display until 26 February 2017. (source)

You can read more about May Gibbs and her publishing HERE.

There are also, as you might expect, celebratory stamps, and a special envelope with coin and stamp collectible. (See above.) You can go collectible hunting HERE and HERE.

And, because our FTNH is particularly fond of May Gibbs (being her great-great aunt possibly has something to do with that), we are including some additional images specially selected for nostalgia.

May Gibbs on Creating Fairy Tales Out of the Australian Bush

The AFTS is close to wrapping their second annual conference and has been discussing May Gibbs' gumnut folk (among many other wonderful things). I recently saw this little presentation in which May Gibbs talks about how these beloved and iconic Australian bush fairy tales and creatures came to be.

Note: there have been a number of efforts to have Snugglepot & Cuddlepie (& friends) made into a movie but nothing has gotten past the development stage yet. I have a feeling things will get moving on this front again soon though.

Enjoy!

Graeme Foote Ceramic Book Sculptures (& Aussies 'n' Fairy Tales Week Begins Tomorrow!)

Alice in Wonderland by Graeme Foote

My ducks have been misbehaving and have refused to get in a row this week so "Aussies 'n' Fairy Tales" week is getting a delayed start until tomorrow. What I will be highlighting is the work of Australians who are regularly inspired by and work with fairy tales. You will likely already know some of them, since their work is known worldwide, but I had to pick and choose... There are a lot!

May Gibbs  was an artist and writer who had a profound way of translating the European idea of fairy tales and faery-like people using the Australian bush. These characters literally grew out of the landscape and once you grow up with them, it's difficult not to imagine them peeking from every bit of scrub and forest you see

In the meantime, take a look at what renowned Australian ceramic sculptor, Graeme Foote, does. He creates large works that are larger than life - something difficult to do in this medium.

That's the Magic Pudding perched on top. I wish I could find a pic of the front of him.
He's such a wonderfully grumpy and adorable character!

Although Mr. Foote doesn't specifically work with fairy tales, when you talk literature and influencing works in Australia, fairy tales have a habit of cropping up, like they have here.

This series is called Book Memories and, unsurprisingly, there are a few fairy tales and children's books referenced in his work.

'Book Memories' exhibition of sculptures creates a dialogue of the artist's literary journey exposing both his admiration of these authors, their character and subject matter. Foote empathises with the authors and brings their characters to life.

From the Melbourne Review on this exhibit:

The exhibition is made up of 15 sculptures starting with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which shows a sculpture of Alice peering into the book and seeing the characters emerging out from the pages.
“I wanted to create a series of sculptures that reflected and paid homage to all the inspirational books I have read throughout my life,” said Foote, “that captivated me and continue to inspire my sculpture practice .”
Foote’s renowned ability to successfully create large ceramic sculptures is on display in the sculpture of a young reader sitting atop 16 books showing all the titles of the exhibition and also the robot sculpture sitting on Isaac Asimov’s book Robot Visions with five large books used as a plinth (total height 120 cm). Some of the other inspirational books featured in various sizes are The Agony & the Ecstasy; Snuggle Pot Cuddle Pie; Rodin; Shogun; and Dante’s Divine Comedy.

“I have made key character, inspiration and themes from the books literally emerge out of the pages and into my sculptures,” Foote added.

Interestingly, Mr. Foote's career largely began when his wife was searching for a large dragon-like gargoyle to put on the roof of their new house and couldn't find one.

Here are some more from children's literature (although James and the Giant Peach always recalls Momotaro Peach Boy for me):

And you can see even more of Graeme Foote's work from this exhibit HERE as well as some of his other large ceramic and stone work HERE.