Launch event at Touchstones

David Hancock's amazing ‘Adventure Time’ themed birthday cake

2 More Image(s) In Gallery

The launch event for two new exhibitions at Touchstones, David Hancock’s Cosplay and From Paper to Page: The Illustrations of Alice Melvin and Catherine Rayner, took place last Friday night.

The evening was a double celebration for David Hancock whose 40th birthday was the following day. Family and friends came to see his work, wish him happy birthday and share in his amazing ‘Adventure Time’ themed birthday cake (the animated programme also features in his work). There was also music in the Sea exhibition from The Roman Empire.

David Hancock makes paintings which explore the youth subculture of Cosplay. Cosplayers dress up and role-play characters from Manga, Anime or computer games and take on their identity in the real world. Hancock captures cosplayers from around the UK, particularly the North West in often large-scale, hyperreal watercolour paintings.

David added: “Rochdale has had a major influence on me, it’s really where I gained interest in sub culture and also this art gallery is the first gallery which introduced me contemporary art. Being able to show my work in Touchstones Rochdale is really special for me. This exhibition features work from my collection over the past three years and I am very pleased to be able to present this to Rochdale.”

Complementing Cosplay, is another visual treat, ‘From Paper to Page: The Illustrations of Alice Melvin and Catherine Rayner’ which sees two award-winning children’s picture book writers and illustrators display their work in the gallery. The exhibition is specially aimed at families and it was well-tested by some young visitors at the event on Friday evening.

Alice Melvin and Catherine Rayner both studied at Edinburgh College of Art and became friends. They have each gone on to create a number of very successful children’s books – Alice who is published by Tate Publishing is currently working on her fourth book and Catherine who is published by Macmillan Children’s Books, Little Tiger Press and Orchard Books has just published her tenth book, ‘Abigail’.

In the exhibition you can follow Sally’s journey down the high street and count some birds from Alice Melvin’s books ‘The High Street’ and ‘Counting Birds’. Find out about Sylvia and Bird’s adventures, encounter Augustus and His Smile and meet Norris, the Bear Who Shared amongst the characters from Catherine Rayner’s books.

Speaking about the evening, Head of Arts and Heritage, Julian Jefferson, said: “Our summer blockbuster exhibitions will be extremely popular for all ages, especially for children and families.

"The guests at our launch were enchanted by the illustrations and blown away by the Cosplay paintings. We are delighted to be able to bring the amazing work of these extremely talented artists to the borough of Rochdale.”

Both exhibitions run until Saturday 7 September 2013.

Touchstones  is managed by the Link4Life Cultural Trust and is located on The Esplanade, Rochdale, OL16 1AQ. We are open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm. Admission is free.