In the playroom

One corner of the gallery where the Edmund de Waal/Axel Salto exhibition was displayed was set out as a playroom, with art supplies and various objects. I love how The Hepworth encourages creativity in this way, especially for children. Edmund de Waal clearly feels very passionate about this too. In his words: 'A section in the exhibition in Yorkshire is going to be an area in which children (if they manage to fight off the adults) get to play with printing stamps. The idea is to have a space where young people can just try things out, not for any kind of curriculum needs, but because being a human being is about discovering what happens, bodily, with you in the world – which is play. Play makes you alive to the world in a material way. Stripping play and craft from children’s lives is just a disgrace.'

I rather liked the felted 'pebbles' - squishy and tactile, and with lovely colours.  

I was also absolutely fascinated by these things... They looked a bit like mushrooms but they appeared to be wood - and I think they are natural rather than carved. I've no idea what they are. Google and Google lens is no help - it identifies them as 'portobello mushrooms' from the 'gills side' (well, yes, that's what they look like but they were definitely wood, not fungus) and trepanned skulls from the smooth side! Ha. I'd say they are some kind of burr/burl... Incredible things, anyway. 

Apologies for the soft focus. It was so dark that I was using a very wide aperture on my lens and thus had a rather too narrow depth of field.