Immagini della fantasia

Le immagini della fantasia—the 29th annual exhibit of children's book illustration—is now in full swing.  I am happy to say that I was able to go to Sàrmede to attend the opening.



The guest of honour this year is Linda Wolfsgruber —who is also the creator of the poster above. Indeed,  there was a mini-retrospective of her work within the overall exhibition, from her earliest picture books to her more recent prints. It was a real treat to see the originals, they are stunning and luminous.

Altogether, over 300 images are on display, by illustrators from all over the world.  Some of the illustrations can be seen here and here.  The theme this year, as you can see, is Tales from India.



These 300+ images also had work from students and newcomers to the world of children's books, including me.  My illustration (mentioned previously) can be seen in the photo below.  Click here for a closer look at it and other work from newcomers.



All in all, a very good crowd turned out to attend not only the opening but a whole weekend of workshops, entertainments, encounters (including a very thought-provoking panel discussion with half a dozen of the artists), and other events.

Some of the illustrators who were able to make it to the opening weekend included: Simone Rea, Guido Scarabottolo, AnnaLaura Cantone, Alessandra Vitelli, Gabriele Clima and of course Linda — among many others.  Rock stars! ;-) I was also happy to catch up with friends and class-mates whose work was selected in this exhibit, notably Rossana Bossu, Laura Borras, Olga Tranchini and Francesca Zoboli. Good to see all of you...

The exhibit will be in Sàrmede until 15 January, and after that it goes on tour. The details will be on the website, but in general it goes first to other cities in Italy (Rome, Florence, Naples, Bologna for the book fair) and then all over Europe (Barcelona, Vienna, Paris, Stuttgart...) — and beyond (Florida and Istanbul)!!

Catch it if you can — highly recommended (even if I do say so myself!).

PS.  See here for more pics of the opening, and here for a few more views of Sàrmede.