NEWS UPDATE: Frank Bellamy Kettering Exhibition and unseen artwork

STOP PRESS@ See below for pictures of the Exhibition as it's assembled 

Frank Bellamy - Masai Warrior

The Alfred East Gallery, Kettering, which has previously run exhibitions of Frank Bellamy's artwork is due to include some of his work in Comics Unstripped!. The Gallery explains, it will be "where we look at the history of comics and graphic novels. The exhibition features the original artworks by Kettering’s Frank Bellamy, including some examples from Garth, Thunderbirds and Dan Dare".

The exhibition, runs from 9th July to 20th August,and will have a booklet for sale, produced by the Gallery from Paul Holder's expanded digital version which will make a nice souvenir as it contains images taken from original art and provides the brief Frank Bellamy biography he wrote for "True Brit: A Celebration of the Great Comic Book Artists of the UK" edited by George Khoury. See the whole book - now a collector's item -  here on Amazon, but I'd recommend, if you can't attend, buying a digital edition which is cheaper and also has more content in colour!

Frank Bellamy souvenir booklet

Information for dates and times was found on the Council's website, and not the Gallery's but this was only announced today. The event includes:  

Super Heroes and Heroines Family Fun Day - Wednesday 3rd August, 1-3.30pm Join us for a family fun day in the Manor House Museum Gardens dressed as your favourite super hero or heroine! Come along to take part in craft activities, trails, face painting and lots more!

Comic Strip & Character Workshop - Saturday 23rd July, 11am-1pm & 2pm-4pm Learn how to create your very own comic strip and design your own characters in this 2 hour workshop for children aged 8 and above. The workshops cost £5 per child, (£4 with Leisure Pass) and booking is essential; call 01536 534 274.

There will also be prints to order which are "printed on 300gsm heavyweight archival fine art paper to the original size (approximately 41 X 63cm)" Although the original artwork will not be on display - as to my knowledge it still resides with the Bellamy family - there will be the opportunity to purchase prints (such as the Masai Warrior at the top of this article and the lovely artwork of Nancy Bellamy, Frank's late widow below) via the Gallery and postcards of other unpublished Bellamy works as well of his Thunderbird 6 film poster.

I suspect the dates mentioned on a Facebook event are wrong as some of the events listed on the council website take place after the dates mentioned. I have let the Facebook owner know UPDATE: Apprently Facebook only permits 2 weeks for an event!!!].

Lastly here is a piece not seen by very many people at all as it used to reside in Nancy's sitting room. She was an exceedingly liberated woman of the 50s and 60s and she felt very proud of this portrayal by her late husband

Nancy Bellamy by Frank Bellamy

Thunderbird 6 film poster postcard

Thanks to Jeff Chahal for these pictures on the Facebook Events page

9 Garth strips; Disc magazine, Heros, 2 Thunderbirds and Radio Times posters

Circus Posters, Montgomery (?), David the Shepherd King and others