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by Chris Price

After making his name with major exhibitions in New York,
London and Berlin, Billy Childish is returning to the place
where his career began.

The latest works by the Chatham-born painter, poet and musician
are going on show at Chatham's Historic Dockyard, 36 years
after he began work there.

Drawings made during his short stint as a stonemason after he
left school in 1976 eventually got him a place at art school in
London.

He had been refused an interview for leaving school without any
qualifications, he said at an exclusive sneak peek at the
forthcoming exhibition.

Mr Childish, 52, said: “It was quite slow-paced in the yard and
I spent a lot of time in teahuts where I did a lot of drawing.

“I showed those to an art school in London and was accepted.

“A couple of them survive and have been dug out for the show
just to give it a cyclical feeling.”

Both Mr Childish’s grandfathers worked at the Dockyard, one
after being an Able Seamen in the Navy.

His maternal grandfather was a storeman and his
great-grandfather a shipwright and carpenter at the dockyard and
his father before him too.

The exhibition, Frozen Estuary and other Paintings of the Divine
Ordinary, is based around photographs taken of the big freeze of
the Thames Estuary in 1947.

It opens on Friday, June 1 and runs until Sunday, September
30. Historic Dockyard admission – which lasts 12 months – £16.50,
concessions £14, children £11, families £45. Call 01634
823800.

For the full interview, pick up your What's On magazine,
free inside your local paid-for KM Group newspaper.