Bookbenches for Books About Town

Colourful art amongst the city of London, for all to enjoy!

Having recently written an article for the New Zealand Times about Mandii Pope, a brilliant Kiwi artist, I decided to venture out one day after work to check out some of the amazing book benches that artists (including Mandii) have painted around London.

There are four trails of benches shaped as open books all around London. Each of the 50 benches is decorated in the theme of a book and will be auctioned off at the end of summer to raise funds for the National Literacy Trust’s work to raise literacy levels in the UK.

Having visited many of Wild in Art’s trails in the past (such as the mascots of 2012) I always enjoy strolling around London to seek out the works of art. It may sound a bit childish, but to me it not only inspires my creative side, it also shows me areas of London that I may never have seen before. The mascot hunting showed me so many new areas – it was fantastic!

Below are images from the Bloomsbury Bookbench Trail in London:

Unfortunately, these benches aren’t meant for sitting on, which has resulted in some needing repairs, after hunting around for 10-15 minutes – walking in circles (looking like an idiot) I found this plaque:

Do you have a favourite bookbench?

 

If you would like to check out the book benches yourself, head over to http://www.booksabouttown.org.uk/ for more information.

If you would like to check out all the mascots I hunted out (there were a lot) head over to my flickr gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ngaireackerley/sets/72157631462378284/

P.S. Wild in Art is even hoping to bring Giraffes to Christchurch, NZ! http://www.wildinart.co.uk/christchurch-stands-tall/2983