Sat on a comfy sofa in a replica of Wallace’s front room at West Wallaby Street it is definitely feeling like home for Preston’s Nick Park.
He is back in the city for the weekend to formally open the Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library after its £19million restoration project.
The Oscar winning creator of Wallace and Gromit grew up in Preston, but now lives in Bristol where his Aardman Animations is headquartered.
Read more: Inside the Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library ahead of grand re-opening
He said: “I do always love coming back. And I did always love the Harris Museum when I was growing up, it always meant a lot.
“And it’s a double double because I’m coming back and there’s my own exhibition here with my characters. It is just incredible.”
The opening special exhibition at the Harris is full of Park’s duo and other characters from the films and TV specials over the years – from Feathers, to Hutch, to Norbot, they are all here.
Read more: In pictures: Exploring the new look The Harris with some special guests
“It’s like I’ve eaten too much cheese and it’s all come to life,” says Park sat admiring the exhibition, “I’m living in that world now. I can’t escape.
“In a way it’s a nice celebration. It goes back to the early days of starting to make films here near Preston [Park grew up in Walton-le-Dale] in my parents’ attic. Some of those films are being shown all the time on the walls.
“There’s early sketches and doodles and it shows how every kind of evolved really.
“It is a very substantial exhibition with so many props from early films like the rocket from A Grand Day Out that I built myself through to the most sophisticated models from the Curse of the Were Rabbit and there’s one of the canal barges from the latest film A Vengeance Most Fowl.
“We’ve also dotted lots of jokes in the exhibition too, but you’ll have to look closely to find them. There’s lots of little puns like on the labels and scattered around.”
Park said he had gone for a brief wander around the Harris since arriving and described it as a ‘feast’ when asked about the restoration.
He said: “It is an incredible attraction, a feature of history and artefacts.
“There’s everything I used to love as a kid but also it is just stunning what’s been done. And to have the Wallace and Gromit exhibition at the centre is really special.
“Especially this front room, like Wallace’s, and it is inspired by what my Nanna’s room was like.”
The Harris has played a role in inspiring Park’s love of all things animation.
He said: “When I am stuck for ideas I go back to my childhood and think. That’s my method really.
“I think of things I loved on TV and in real life and the Harris is where I used to come, I used to love coming here and looking at all the artefacts and feeling inspired.
“There’s a lot of history in here and a lot of things from the local area which give you ideas.
“You need to remember there was no internet then either, so I would scour the library for books on animation because there was nothing elsewhere.
“If I found a book on animation, I’d read it from cover to cover.
“And then studying foundation art in Preston I’d come here for art books and to learn more about art.”
Park says he gets back to the city fairly regularly – both he and his wife have family here – and his last big visit was in February to unveil the Feathers McGraw statue with boyish enthusiasm outside the new Animate cinema and leisure complex.
Does he think another Wallace and Gromit themed statue is on the cards?
He said: “Let that be up to Preston really, whether they wanted anymore statues.
“There probably isn’t room for anything more after Feathers and the Wallace and Gromit bench.”
And what of the future of Wallace and Gromit, nearly 40 years on since their first adventures.
Park said: “I hope there’s a good future for Wallace and Gromit. It’s great having two characters that work well as a dynamic.
“What happens is you can think of almost any idea and they’ll make it funny because of who they are.
“Gromit wants peace and a quiet and a nice peaceful life while Wallace continues being this ridiculous kind of agent of chaos in Gromit’s world. So I think that’ll just be an ongoing thing.
“But it’s just thinking of those ideas that really work and that are worth the time it takes to do an animation film. It’s got to be something that you love, the idea’s got to be something that you know will be funny and entertaining.”
Read more: See all our coverage as the Harris re-opens
The Harris re-opens to the public on Sunday (28 September) in a ticketed-only event, where Nick Park will cut the ribbon and declare the building back open.
From Monday (29 September) the museum is open access and open as usual from 9am. The first weekend of opening, in October, is ticketed time entry.
The Harris is a free to access museum and the Wallace and Gromit exhibition is on the second floor and is free to view.
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