A Lovely Evening

We had a great time yesterday evening at the Eastleigh College degree show. It felt like going back in time to the days of Jan and Jean at Windsor and the work, particularly from the Graduates, was excellent.

The seven artists have formed an exhibiting group called Marks and Stitch and intend to continue to support and challenge each other now the course is finished.

My good friend Alison Hulme is part of the group and I loved her theme - hiding behind the pinny. Well, she is certainly out from the pinny now and the ex-pinnies were displayed as works of art, with superb surface decoration, as you can see.

Lettering is used here in a special way as Alison was recently diagnosed with dyslexia - explaining a lot about her ambiguous feelings for words and lettering.

All the work  by the graduates was good, in particular the 'headology' that showed a maturity and a willingness to open themselves up in many ways - Alison with her dyslexia is a good example.

Others look to pass on thoughts about a sustainable society, well illustrated by a delightful study by Caroline Bell who takes her theme into new dimensions with her eco-prints. The presentation of these, as floating tiles was a pointer in the 'framed or not framed' debate and suited the theme admirably.

Others in the group engage with a personal theme such as dance (Catherine Fox) or atmospheric memories of Africa (Jan McGarry). Janet Steer and Louise Wainwright also concentrate on different aspects of memory and environment.

I was very taken with the mark making of Robina Richter, who elevates a simple premise to a whole new level with a very assured use of colour. I am hoping to persuade her to write a workshop on the subject for Workshop on the Web. Watch this space.

All in all, it was a very inspiring evening and full maks to tutots Sue Chapman and Terrie Hitchcock, plus all the other tutors at the college.

On another matter, I'd like to thank you all for getting behind our great subscription rally for WoW.  We have all been touched by the offers of help we have had and lots of people - like DIane (many thanks) have asked for our bookmarks to give away at their guild or group. If anyone else can do this, do let me know.

We're very pleased with the results of the initiative - if you haven't subscribed yet, hurry up as the free book offer ends in a week's time. See www.workshopontheweb.com. I am also working on some giveaways for our loyal existing suppliers - more news in the next blog.