A GROUP of Bradford children have grilled renowned artist David Hockney about his inspirations – and even asked for a pair of his shoes.

When Cartwright Hall decided to create a specialist gallery dedicated to Bradford-born Hockney, they decided to ask, among others, pupils at local primary schools what they wanted to see in it.

Those children included Year 2 pupils at Horton Grange Primary School, who wrote to the artist to try to find out more about him and get support for the gallery. They also created a number of Hockney-inspired mini masterpieces to send to him.

Curator Jill Iredale visited the artist in his California home before the gallery’s opening earlier this year, and read the questions to the 80-year-old artist, recording his answers.

Yesterday a group of the same children, now in Year 4, visited the gallery to see the video of the artist answering their questions, as well as being given a guided tour of the gallery they helped shape.

One of the questions was how Hockney got into art, to which he replied: “I always wanted to be an artist, even when I was very, very young.”

He told the children his favourite colour was blue and what he misses most about Bradford is Saltaire and St George’s Hall.

Noticing many of his works feature his shoes, the children asked if he could donate a pair for the gallery. He replied: “I’ll try to find some.”

Yusuf Hussain said: “It is nice to know an artist like him lived in my city.”

When Yusuf Anjum was asked about how it felt to hear Hockney answer his questions, he said: “I felt happy and joyful. It was really exciting to send a letter to David Hockney and have him reply.”

Arts co-ordinator at the school Rayma Ahmed said: “The footage of David Hockney answering the questions is completely amazing.

“It is lovely to see him respond to the questions and makes it more meaningful for our children who are fascinated by the work that he had produced.”

Mrs Iredale said: “This is a special school trip for the pupils and for the museum. Since the Hockney Gallery opened we have had over 60 classes from primary and secondary schools visiting the gallery and taking part in Hockney workshops, as well as early years groups and many families, some of whom are seeing his work for the first time.”