Art and About: Illustrator Stevie Gee meets the cosmonauts in Kensington

A visit to a gallery or exhibition is about so much more than the art on the wall or the artefacts on show. Our new partnership, Art and About, developed in association with the Art Fund, sees four creatives head off to a diverse number of cultural institutions and share with us the moments of inspiration they encountered along the way. We armed each individual with a National Art Pass (use code FIVEOFF for a £5 discount) and documented their day. Over the next four weeks we will be sharing their insights, itinerary and reactions to what they saw and where they went. The series kicks off with London-based illustrator Stevie Gee and his children.

“The exhibition, Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age, was recommended by a friend who said it was really good. My wife, who is also an illustrator, is always drawing sci-fi and the like. There is a lot of space stuff around the house and the kids have a natural fascination with that. It was something I wanted to see and I thought we would all be interested in the content. I think we probably take for granted the number of galleries and exhibitions that go on in London. I think that I should go to more places, and take my kids, more often. An exhibition like this is the ideal show to see as it seemed to have something for everyone.”

10:00 Bounds Green N11 to South Kensington SW7

“We headed from Bounds Green where we live – it was a cold, wet and windy day. In hindsight we should have wrapped up a bit warmer, but we picked up some snacks from the shop and headed off. When we arrived in South Kensington I was surprised just how many people were there. I have always enjoyed the long tunnel that leads to exhibition road. That tunnel was rammed with families at that time in the morning, but it builds the excitement – the movement, the busker playing music echoing down the tunnel. It’s good.

11:00 Cosmonauts: The Birth of the Space Age – Science Museum, Exhibition Road SW7

“We headed straight to the exhibition in the museum using the Art Pass. Inside the exhibition it was quieter than outside – maybe as a result of the fact you have to pay to go in. We probably made the most noise by accidentally setting off the alarms. There’s a sense that everyone is taking it a bit more seriously and trying to soak it all up – whereas in the free exhibitions of the Science Museum itself, it’s almost like a school playground at times.

There were many large artefacts, the spaceships and that were pretty cool to look at, but it was the things like Laika’s spacesuit that really interested me – the little outfit for a space dog was like something from Tin Tin. In another room was all the clothes that astronauts wear: the waterproofs, the pressure suits and a pair of trousers that looks just like Wallace’s from Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers. They are amazing.

We meandered through fairly slowly and took a lot in, not everything, but sometimes you don’t know what you are looking at until you read the label. I like to skim read it so if the kids ask me anything I appear super knowledgeable to them.”

“I ended up buying a couple of postcards and taking photos. I was intrigued by the Russian constructivist style posters produced by the people who used to produce propaganda for the state. They had translated that aesthetic and design approach to the layout. The kids were interested in the banners that people made for Yuri Gagarin’s victory parade after his return from space. The people wanted to honour him any way they could and rushed out onto the streets with homemade banners. The example in the exhibition showed a medical student’s robes that they had scrawled a message on using red paint, it said something like “Victory to Russia” and looked like blood. The wider context that the exhibition portrayed, not just the spaceships, made everything a bit more real, more personable.

We were saying afterwards – imagine a world where no one had been in space, had no idea of what it looked like. It must have been an incredible feeling to know that there were people up there above you. It’s mindblowing. We became very interested in a compass that allowed the cosmonauts to know where they were above the world.

12:00 Science Museum permanent collection and shop

“We wandered over to the glass bridge [The Challenge of Materials designed by Whitbybird and Wilkinson Eyre]. We noticed it when we walked in and I said to the kids, ‘I wonder if you can walk on that?’ as it was completely empty. When we got up there you get an amazing view of the museum and the Kinetic sculpture in the main hall. You get another perspective across the whole museum. We had to move on after a bit as a party of kids turned up and started to jump on the bridge – which unnerved us slightly.

We had a look around the rest of the museum, the interactive stuff is fantastic, but the kids were keen to get into the shop which is in some ways a museum in itself – the amount of great things they have in it.”

13:30 La Grande Bouchee Delicatessen – Bute Street SW7

“We headed off in search of food, I wanted to go somewhere that had a sense of history and culture to it, rather than a chain. So we headed over to La Grand Bouchee, which has been owned by the same guy for years. The walls are covered in newspaper clippings about him. It serves Mediterranean, French and Italian food with hams and cheeses on display and makes fresh sandwiches. We were chatting with the sons, who were super friendly and then the owner came out. He’s been there for something like 50 years and showed us the old till they use because we expressed an interest in it. He said it was the oldest and most expensive thing in the shop – it’s worth thousands. The owner was climbing up the shelves to get ingredients for the sandwiches and gave us a free Kit Kat. He was a proper gentleman.”

14:30 South Kensington SW7 to Bounds Green N11

“As we headed home the kids started doodling in their notebooks on the tube. It’s different visiting an exhibition with children. In some ways we are at a similar intelligence level and see things quite similarly. Because of what me and my wife do, they see a lot of stuff – a lot of references. They see artists, hear music and are exposed to things that I wasn’t as a kid. I do think they are more clued-up than I was growing up.

There was a little book that came with the National Art Pass and I was surprised quite how many places it offered access to that I’d never even heard of before – which makes me want to explore. There’s more opportunity to get out and about, on my own or with the kids, as there is such easy access. Just jump on the tube and walk in. Especially if you go early and avoid the crowds.”

A National Art Pass offers 50% off major exhibitions, plus free entry to hundreds of charging museums, galleries and historic places across the UK. The really good bit? Funds raised through the pass allow the Art Fund to help museums and galleries buy important works of art for everyone to enjoy. Learn more about the National Art Pass here and use the offer code FIVEOFF to receive £5 off the total price.

Or get in touch to find out how it’s available to you and your colleagues in the creative industries through the Art Fund’s corporate scheme.