Exhibition: The Wonderful World of Rodney Peppé, The Museum in the Park Gallery, Stroud, September 17 – November 13 2011

Part engineer and inventor, part illustrator and comic, Rodney Peppé has always had a glint in his eye and his tongue in his cheek.

His phenomenal output (which includes more than 80 books) hit peak prominence during the 1980s, when Huxley Pig became arguably the nation’s favourite trough-licker on ITV, and he’s made flying machines and automata for solo shows held at the V&A Museum of Childhood, The National Theatre, various collections in Japan and most places in between.

Pirate ships fashioned from kettles and cuddly, grinning mice piloting cutely coloured planes are among the highlights here, but perhaps the chief beauty of Peppé’s work lies in its possession of a simple charm which seems ever-more elusive in a modern toy world of flashing lights and migraine-inducing technology.

This is also a homecoming for the artist, who spent years living in nearby Whiteway with his wife, the textile artist Tatjana Tekkel.

• Open 10am-4pm (except Monday, 11am-4pm Saturday and Sunday, open until 5pm during September). Admission free.

More pictures from the show: