Guildhall Art Gallery: Director's Choice(Director's Choice)

Guildhall Art Gallery houses the City of London's art collection and is situated in the heart of the Square Mile. The collection is particularly rich in Victorian art, whose styles and themes range from the Pre-Raphaelites to the late 19th century fashion for all things Oriental. Visitors are taken on a colourful journey into the city's past, covering dramatic events like the Great Fire of London, as well as everyday street scenes. The Gallery also manages the archaeological remains of London's Roman Amphitheatre which lie underneath the exhibition floors. The Gallery's focus is to collect works of art which are representative of Londoners, becoming an art gallery about London for London. In this book, Director Elizabeth Scott selects her personal favourites from amongst this extraordinary range of works

About the Author :
I was born in 1972, and grew up in a small town in southern Virginia, and I do mean small - we didn't even have a post office! My parents were both teachers, and they both taught at the local high school. You can guess what's coming. Yep, that's right. I ended up having both my parents as teachers, and actually took classes with my father for three years. As nightmarish as that sounds, it actually wasn't so bad. In a high school as small as the one I attended, it was pretty much a given that if I took certain classes, I'd have my parents as teachers, so it wasn't really a shock to see them listed on my class schedule. Plus, when I was in class, they both treated me like I was any other student. In fact, my mother made me give up my seat because I talked too much! I still haven't forgiven her for that. (If you read this, Mom, I'm just kidding, I swear!) After I graduated from high school, I went to college. I had all these huge plans involving a glamorous career (in what, I had no idea, I just knew I didn't want to live in the middle of nowhere) and I'd also sworn I'd never get married. Naturally, I ended up majoring in European Studies, which prepared me for only the most unglamorous of jobs, and met my future husband when I was a freshman. Speaking of jobs, I've had a bunch over the years - I've been an editor (I didn't say I was a good one!) and an office manager (which is a fancy way of saying secretary). I've also sold hardware, pantyhose, and even worked for a dot.com company when they were as prolific as weeds. (I burned cds, and the job was just as boring as it sounds.) I write young adult novels, and frankly, don't ever see myself writing anything else. I read a lot, and I love all kinds of books, but young adult books hold a very special place in my heart. Being a teenager is both the most amazing and the most frightening thing - there's so much going on with you, your friends, your parents, and handling that and school and having to think about your future... it can be really exciting, but it's also a lot to deal with! It always astonishes me when people talk about how easy it is to be young, because it isn't easy at all. I remember some of the books I read when I was growing up so vividly, not just because they were wonderfully written, but because what was in them really spoke to me. I believed authors like Judy Blume knew exactly how I felt in a way no one else did, and writing books like that, books that really speak to you, is my dream.