Mini Grey

Type of Artist:

Author/Illustrator

Talks, assemblies, practical sessions and illustration workshops

Details

All primary age range, particularly 5 year olds upwards. Can run illustration workshops with older students and adults.

Probably up to 30 in a workshop depending on the activity, and as many as can be comfortably accommodated for a talk.

I am flexible about planning the day; usually two morning sessions and two afternoon sessions would be possible.

45-60 minutes for a ‘show and tell’ talk, 1-2 hours for a practical workshop session.

Usually up to 1 hour 40 minutes travel from Oxford. (Usually by car.)

By car @ 45p per mile

Please email us for details

http://minigrey.com/

New: The Bad bunnies’ Magic Show.
Also: Traction Man is Here,
Toys in Space, Hermelin
Space Dog, Biscuit Bear
The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon
Jim

We were thrilled with Mini’s contribution at our autumn writing conference (Growing Great Writers, 2016). Mini captivated the audience with her enthusiastic recount of her journey into writing, and offered a vivid insight into what makes her tick as an author. She left the conference attendees with a tangible buzz about getting young children writing for both purpose and pleasure. 

Penny Slater                                                                                                                                     Deputy Lead Teaching and Learning Adviser (English)                                                                     Herts for Learning Ltd     

A 'Mini Grey Day' is a fantastic experience for any child and is the reason that I have organised her to visit my school on numerous occasions over the previous five years. 
Mini's approach and delivery is always enthusiastic and infectious and has provided the children with outstanding learning experiences that have proven to last long in their memories and to inspire and enthuse creativity in their thinking and writing. 

The use of her book characters, illustrations and 'zig-zag' story planner boards have provided the children with an engaging insight into the life of an author and the story writing process, whilst her enthusiasm to answer the children's questions has served to extend their learning well. Knowing that a 'proper author' has to plan, write and review has provided an excellent context to support and encourage the children to follow the same stages in their subsequent writing. 
The range of activities that she has provided have inspired the children to think creatively about their writing; from simple ideas to create story characters, to illustration tips to bring the characters to life, to thinking about designing the page layout to capture the reader's attention.  She has worked with a range of year groups and a wide range of group sizes but has always ensured that the activity and its delivery is appropriate for the task. 

Her book signing events at the end of the day have been a massive success mainly due to the fact that she is always prepared to take the time to talk with the children and parents and to write a personalised message and draw an illustration within each book.

Rob Knight
Class Teacher,  Inkberrow First School        

Feedback from Mini’s adult course, ‘Adventures in Picture Book Illustration, at Buckingham Summer/Autumn School:

“I have really enjoyed the course – it’s been really practical and full of great advice, but it’s also been very accessible. We’ve managed to do a lot of work in a relatively short time and it’s been great fun. I’m feeling very inspired to take this further – thank you!”

“What an amazing course! Mini was inspirational and so informative. It was an absolute treat to focus and draw and expand knowledge in a fun way. Brilliant – thank you so much!”

“Excellent! I really enjoyed this – a fresh way of working and thinking about how to create a story. Very helpful information and advice – thank you Mini!”

“Fantastic! Loved the whole two days and being pushed to work outside my comfort zone – just what I needed.”

“A very productive, enjoyable couple of days. Really enjoy Mini’s courses as they are very inspiring and she is full of ideas and help to get your imagination going. Nice bunch of friendly people too. Really good fun!”

“Brilliant, just the right amount of guidance and instruction whilst allowing each individual their own ideas/creativity. Relaxed but also inspiring – feeling fired up.”

“Enjoyed the course a lot and the summer school is a great idea. Everyone has been really friendly and welcoming – staff, tutors and pupils. I’ve learnt a lot and got very inspired. Mini has been a great tutor and is full of enthusiasm which has rubbed off on us all. It’s been great to learn new skills and processes, and also look at work by other published illustrators and I loved looking at Mini’s sketchbooks.”

“What a fantastic course! Very well structured, informative, Mini is really pushing the boundaries of everyone’s creativity. I feel a lot better equipped/prepared to work on my own, generating ideas and experimenting with new media. I am very grateful or Mini’s demonstrations, finally I can start using all the materials I have and was scared of using. Also thank you Mini for forcing me to loosen up and work faster, rather than sitting and working on one image for hours.”

“We couldn’t have had a more enthusiastic tutor. The days were well-planned and informative with the right mix of information and activity. Mini has opened our imaginations to so many possibilities, with many hints and tips into the world of illustrations and lots of very generous advice from her personal experience.”

“The course covered an impressive amount on use of materials, mediums, techniques. Inspirational 3 days! Covered more than I expected – Mini’s a great motivator – lots of gentle encouragement with a ‘can do’ approach. Lots of exciting reference materials and books, too. An exciting course, relaxed, no pressure - kept us going, lots of encouragement and ideas, perfectly pitched. Thank you Mini.”