Museum marks Aardman's 50th year with exhibition

A London museum is marking animation studio Aardman's 50th year with an exhibition showcasing some of its clay models and props used in their films.

The exhibit at the Young V&A, Bethnal Green, will also include interactive displays and sets used in the Bristol-based studio's hits such as Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep.

Chief curator Alex Newson said the museum's aim was to "inspire creativity" in children and also show them the possibility of using their creativity and skills to develop a career in creative industries such as animation when they get older.

The show begins on Thursday and will run until 15 November.

"We're here to inspire creativity, to help them be creative in small ways in their daily lives, but also in larger ways," said Newson.

"And also to start thinking about creative careers and the skills that they can develop that might one day lead to roles in the creative kind of industry when they grow up."

The exhibition will showcase Wallace's love interest Lady Tottington, the distinctive rocket from Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989), and the duo's infamous living room set.

It will feature installations from some of the earliest projects the Aardman founders worked on as well as their most recent features.

Set models and puppets from the 2024 hit A Vengeance Most Fowl, which picked up two gongs at the Baftas and was also nominated for an Oscar, will be on display for the first time.

Other exhibits include early character sketches, concept art, puppets, props, set models and optical illusion toys.

Newson said it had been "amazing" working with Aardman over the past 18 months.

"It's a really rich, kind of dense archive, to have the opportunity to trawl through all of that and pick things across those 50 years is rare and a real privilege," he said.

"When you see everything come into the gallery and get built and installed, it's a really exciting moment."

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