The Juan Llorens Children’s Art Collection appeared in Elche in the late 1970s. My painting system in those days was extremely slow and laborious, with pigments accumulating in the warp of the canvas with successive layers and dry glazes. The result was very similar to an ash shower in the pictorial space. The shapes were inspired by solidified lava balls from the Canary Island of Lanzarote. Around my easel and desk, my two-year-old son Sergio (La Laguna, Tenerife, 1974) moved freely. He got the chance to start working in a house where he didn’t hit too much furniture, and as soon as he picked up the pencil, he started plastering the walls of the house. At first, there were marks and scratches pretty close to the baseboard, so paint a few inches higher as the months go by. The result was a very interesting and changing record of strokes and marks. Back in the “trains” time, the track started from his room… through the bathroom…, through the kitchen…, through the dining room… until it reached where I was. “Hi dad, I’m coming from Murcia on this super train but don’t hold me back, I want to go to America this afternoon” and the opposite wall was drawn: “Chuf-chuf-chuf- chuf-chuf…!” There were times when he came by steamboat and left a mile-long loop of smoke with a black candle behind it.
The arrival of her sister Emma (Elche, 1978) on the walls of the house four years later should have been different: too much garbage around the house and the walls already very “civilized”! There was almost no free space to accommodate the occasional loose drawing. At this point Sergio was drawing and painting magnificent “cars”, “war” or impressive “shark catches” on cardboard that fascinated the little girl. Emma’s graphic stories would be after her brother’s stories and would feature chickens, rabbits, butterflies, etc. “farms” would proliferate. He referred to times of peace and quiet…
As a keen observer and big fan of Sergio and Emma’s drawings and paintings on cardboard and paper, the idea arose to put the completion date on all work and keep them as a simple family keepsake. But an extensive chronological collection of children’s art began at Elche. An exciting journey from doodles to visual realism.
Sergio and Emma’s collection of drawings, paintings, collages and embroidery covers work from the age of three to their final creations before they begin their adult lives. The salvaged works were made at home and at the Hort del Xocolater School of Painting in Elche, with different techniques and a wide variety of supports. Sergio would rather draw, and Emma would rather paint.
The first exhibition of the collection to the public and the educational community was held in May 1987 at the Exhibition Hall of the Savings Bank of Alicante and Murcia, under the title Sergio and Emma (The principle of something). With the addition of recent productions by Sergio and Emma (17 and 13 years old) in 1991, the collection is presented at the Municipal Park Museum under the title Other exhibition organized by the Elche City Council. With explanatory talks for interested schools.
Currently, April 2022, the collection is happily enriched by Sergio’s sons (Héctor, Orxeta, 2013) and Emma’s sons (Alba, Elche, 2009 and Adrián, Elche, 2014). Collaborative work deserves special mention. In 2017, the Onion Lullabies to Miguel Hernández exhibition with paintings by Juan Llorens/Alba Granados was presented at the Sala de la Orden Tercera in Elche. The Ode to Children’s Art series made in times of this pandemic, with paintings inspired by the drawings of Héctor and Adrián, has yet to be published.
Continuing with the good relations between art and education, it is thought to make the Collection useful again as a didactic resource for Art Education, with interviews, conferences and exhibitions for the education community and the public. The idea is to present the immense plastic beauty of children’s expressions to the observation and reflection of students, teachers and society, and to talk about children’s work just as we do with the work of artists in museums. On this occasion, it is closer to the realities of students and viewers: fascinating graphic-plastic development of any person according to their evolutionary stages. Giving students more creative confidence and encouraging everyone to enjoy uncomplicated artistic expressions.
It will continue…