Art and play come together at new exhibition

6.35.09pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 22nd Jun 2007

Young mums and their children are putting the finishing touches to work for a new exhibition opening at Richmond's Riverside Gallery on Saturday, 7 July.

Artplay2 is a free, interactive show for the under 5s created during a series of family workshops run by Richmond Council's Arts Service. It will see the two rooms in the gallery at the Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue, transformed into a meadow and tropical rainforest complete with sound, animation and colourful projections. Throughout June a group of young mums and children from Heart (Health, Education and Art) and Homestart Richmond have been working with artist Laura Medler at the Coach House Education Centre at Orleans House Gallery. The exhibition is open until 16 September and aims to emulate the success of the initial Artplay show in 2004 which attracted more than 3,000 visitors.

Cllr John Coombs, Cabinet Member for Youth, Culture and Leisure on Richmond Council, said:

"The exhibition offers young parents and their children a rare opportunity to work with a professional artist to create what promises to be a stunning exhibition. I hope as many people as possible, from the borough and further afield, will pay a visit.