Australia’s first art library for kids has opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. The Ashley Dawson-Damer Children’s Art Library is free and aimed at little ones 0 – 12 years of age.
It has reading towers, terraced seating and is decorated with illustrations by Australian artists Grace Cossington-Smith, Grace Crowley, Adrienne Doig and Margaret Olley.
Art Gallery of NSW director Michael Brand said: ‘Australia’s first ever Children’s Art Library is a unique gift to new generations of young visitors to the Art Gallery.’ The gallery has purchased more than 1400 books to inspire our future leaders and creatives, and encourage curious minds to discover artists and art history. Many of the titles are in languages other than English and books have been sourced for children with disabilities or who have access requirements. In addition to this the Art Library for Children will also host ‘storytime sessions, sensory and tactile experiences, performances, and new artist-led artmaking experiences with children as vital co-creators’ announced the AGNSW.
The Art Library is found within the Edmund and Joanna Capon Research Library, which offers the potential for grown-ups to be inspired too, and get to work, with over 100,000 books, 1400 periodicals, and the National Art Archive.
Ashley Dawson-Damer said: ‘I am so pleased to help make this ambitious project possible and share my life-long passion for learning with generations to come. As children, the worlds we’re taken into through books stay with us our whole lives and contribute to the foundations of ourselves. Childhood should be a time for discovery and wonder, and a Children’s Art Library has the capacity to provide young minds with inspiration and awe. The Art Gallery, with its reach of appeal to a very wide and diverse community, is uniquely placed to inspire the children of our present and future generations.’