Somewhere deep inside of these bones.....

On the 19th March, I had the pleasure of visiting London for 'The World of Tim Burton' Exhibition...and it was a pure delight! In particular, the stop motion clay models from Nightmare Before Christmas where the most wonderful, for a very special reason.

Turning back the clock to the late 90's, I lived in a village in the North of England, and on this specific day, I was at my Aunt and Uncle's house up the road. It must have been sometime in December around the lead up to Christmas, as I remember it feeling cosy, school holidays were about to start, and I still believed in Father Christmas. Of all the films they could have put on, it was 'Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas', probably because it was stop motion animation, and they knew I was already a big fan of the Wallace and Gromit shorts. I remember being fixated by the whole thing; the visuals, the story, the characters, the songs, you name it. At one point I even started running around in circles to the track 'What's This?' imagining I was Jack running around Christmas Town, just because I liked it so much. I'm pretty sure I fell over a few times, but I can certainly say I was enjoying myself. From then on, I don't think I remember a world without Tim Burton's films in it. The Nightmare Before Christmas was definitely the catalyst, but from there, I discovered Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow and more. I would even say that one of my favourites of his now is Big Fish, which doesn't get nearly enough attention. Looking back, I imagine being interested in his films also subconsciously influenced my style and aesthetic too, which would be no surprise, but one thing is certain, in that it all started with this film.

So, to come back to 2025, when I entered the Tim Burton Exhibition, and I see Jack, Sally, and the residents of Pumpkin Town, I can't deny that I got a bit emotional. In a strange way, I've known these characters since I was a child, and the film ended up becoming such a massive influence on my life, without me realising it until that very moment. On 19th March 2025. I must admit, I stayed in that section the longest, and was sad to leave it behind. But I still got to see it, and that is something I will always remember.

There was a lot of other pieces in the exhibition that myself and my husband loved, especially as we are both artists, such as the history of sketches, behind the scenes videos, set pieces, and even a short Burton worked on that was a creepy retelling of Hansel and Gretel, however one specific section stood out to us, which is the only other one I'll mention in this post. This one was a wall dedicated to napkins. Now, you may be wondering why there was a collection of napkins Tim Burton has used over the years, however the reason is because each napkin has a sketch on it. Every. Single. One. No matter where he went in the world for his work, wherever he dined or stayed, he would find napkins to sketch on, as if his creative mind never switched off. Now, as creative types, and given the state of the world as it is, it can be difficult for us to find the time or right space to create, and we can get into our heads about perfectionism and what we need to make something, but seeing this wall of napkins sparked a lost sense of creativity in both of us. It reminded us that it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing. Even if you only have 5 minutes, you can still create something, and it doesn't matter how small, or how rough it is. So long as you do it. Something to remind ourselves of, especially on days where creativity is a bit elusive. So for this, I am grateful.

So, I think I'm best finishing of today's post like this; if you are a fellow creative, this exhibition will inspire you. If you are a fan of the movies, you'll love the props, costumes and models. And if you're just weird like us, I imagine you'll love it all anyway.

(Please look below for a few highlights of the Exhibition itself!) (Also, if you'd also like to go to the exhibition before it closes on 26 May 2025, please visit https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-world-of-tim-burton for tickets)

Until next time, stay curious!

Laura, aka, That Hungry Art Girl