Little Horses Exhibition

The Little Horses Exhibition showcases original artwork from the children's picture book Little Horses (Wombat Books, 2024), a conservation success story inspired by true events, written by local author Deborah Kelly and illustrated by local artist Jenni Goodman. Its lyrical style will appeal to younger audiences but information pages about seahorses and the seahorse hotels project provide further information for older readers. Teachers' notes are available on the publisher's website.

White's seahorse (Hippocampus whitei) is found only in Sydney Harbour and the waters around Port Stephens. After a series of storms wiped out most of their habitat, White's seahorse numbers plummeted, leaving them on the brink of extinction. Inspired by an abandoned lobster pot, Port Stephens based marine scientist David Harasti came up with the idea of a seahorse hotel- a kind of temporary accommodation- providing shelter, food and a place for seahorses to gather while their natural environment recovered. 

David now works in collaboration with Sydney's Sealife Aquarium and the University of Technology Sydney to ensure the survival of this species. Seahorse hotels are a fantastic example of innovation in conservation, and David's idea has been replicated in countries around the world to help regenerate their own seahorse populations.

Exhibition and book launch Saturday 17 February  Book here

Watercolours Workshop for young people Book here

About the artist and contributors

Jenni Goodman first dove into the wonderful world of children’s book illustration in 2018, when she was honoured with the opportunity to illustrate a series of board books based on the Australian classic, Storm Boy. She now has nine books to her name, and is proud to have had the opportunity to champion animal conservation through the 2020 release of Have You Seen A Tree For Me? and 2024 release Little Horses. In 2022 she teamed up with her older brother to create the sweet and playful picture book Snuffy which was Shortlisted for the 2022 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year.

Jenni uses different mediums to create her artworks including watercolour paints and pencils, both coloured and graphite, as well as digital media. She loves capturing the beauty of nature and expressive characters in her illustrations.

Deb Kelly is an award winning, internationally published author of picture books, junior fiction, and middle grade novels for children. Her interest in marine conservation stems from a move from New Zealand to Far North Queensland at the age of 16 after which she studied marine biology at James Cook University in Townsville. The marine environment features in several of Deb’s books including The Thing about Oliver (Wombat Books, 2019) and Dugong Magic (Hachette, 2020). Deb lives in Lake Macquarie with her two children and a whippet called Herbert. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Speech Pathology at The University of Newcastle.

Dr David Harasti is a Senior Research Scientist based at the Port Stephens Fisheries Institute. He is a marine biologist with over 20 years’ experience working on threatened marine species and marine biodiversity.

 

When

Location

SEEN@Swansea, 228 Pacific Highway, Swansea, 2281, View in Google Maps