New show of pop ups hits The Lowry

Cities and landmarks created in classic 'kids' materials, such as pop-up books and Lego are taking over the planet. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but when in Berlin, in March, i spent time in 'mini berlin' at the new Legoland in Potsdamer Platz, a display which features plenty of Berlin landmarks, such as the Reichstag - only in LEGO not brick- and now this concept is arriving here in Manchester, at The Lowry.

Opening next satuday, the new show is called Pop-Up and contains some of the planet's finest and most noble structures, hewn from paper and card rather that glass, steel and timber. It will also feature 'landmarks of Salford' - although quite what these will be remain unclear; 'The City of Salford will also be represented by local artists who have participated in a creative project with The Lowry.' says the official Lowry release. 'They have learnt how to make a drawing quite literally leap off the page and created pop-ups of Salford landmarks.'

Open: Sat 27 September 2008 – Sun 15 March 2009 at The Lowry.

Guardianing For Free....

Don't know if anyone else saw it, but there was this wicked feature in G2 in the Guardian yesterday, called How To Be A Thrifty Gardener.

I thought it was really inspiring and full of some top tips and things that would be reallllly easy to do with kids, such as stuffing breeze blocks with soil and little alpine plants and rummaging around for old catering oil cans to turn into plant potters. Obviously if you live in a flat like me, with a dog, child and tiny balcony your options are limited, but even i saw a couple of things i thought.... humm that's an idea.

The Guardian (no, they're not paying me, i'm just having a bit of a broadsheet moment) are also advertising this book 'The Foolproof Guide To Gardening With Children' on their website for £12.99, which is reduced from it's rrp of £14.99. Might make a good Christmas present in these credit-crunch times.