Angelina Ballerina artist Helen Craig’s work on show in Cambridge

Previously unseen works by the illustrator of the children’s Angelina Ballerina books are being featured in a new exhibition.

Helen Craig is well-known as the illustrator behind the books and her mouse creations will be on show, but the 91-year-old from Great Shelford in Cambridgeshire has many more bristles to her brush.

She worked as a photographer in London, and took portraits of celebrities including Julie Christie, Zoë Wanamaker and Peter O’Toole, often shot in their dressing rooms or their own homes.

Unseen artwork she has produced over the last seven decades as well as her ceramics and sculptures will also feature.

Her prolific career as an illustrator of books and nursery rhymes will be represented along with sculptural works.

These often feature theatrical and imposing mythical beings, sometimes with playful, interactive elements such as removable headdresses and horse riders, and figures that open to reveal hidden people inside.

The exhibition’s curator, Pam Smy, an illustrator and former lecturer at Anglia Ruskin’s Cambridge School of Art, said: “Helen lives surrounded by her work and influences.

“Each time I visit [her], she will open a cupboard or a box and reveal remarkable pieces of art.

“She was a single mother in the 1960s and maintained a creative life whilst bringing up her son, reinventing her work to make a living and support them both.

“The volume and quality of her work has long been overlooked, and this exhibition is an attempt to redress this and shine a light on her extraordinary career.”

Mice & Monsters: The Life and Work of Helen Craig is showing at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge from 15 October to 5 November.