Today is a sad day as the textile world mourns the passing of one of their greatest artists. When Julia and Alex interviewed me for the degree course it was she that gave me the confidence that 'I could do it' and since then has continued to support me (amongst so many others) in all my textile endeavours. For those of us who were lucky enough to be her students she leaves a gaping hole and all we can do now is continue on the path she created for us and send our love and support to Alex and her family.

Yes, I'm still here- just! Its been a month since my last post and my feet have barely touched the floor. I have been working hard on the new OPUS degree module, which is a contextual one so all writing and reading (yuck!). As I said to someone on Sunday 'I'm itching to get back to stitching'. It's also all about psychoanalysing art, 'the gaze' and gender in art issues at the moment and we're also looking at the use of the body in art so anyone who has previously read my log will know its not my sort of thing and thus I'm finding it quite a slog. I am just hoping that if I survive this module things will then concentrate more on my areas of interest , textiles.
I have also been really caught up in the other side of being an artist - staging exhibitions and events.I spent yesterday finally hanging my group's exhibition Inspired by... Just the Private View tonight to get through and I can relax. the peripherals of staging such an exhibition is hard work-keeping the group on track, publicity, labeling, liaising with the gallery etc... and it really leaves little time for your own creative work. I've also have the ERTF next conference looming -it really looks as though it will be very good as it addresses issues of professional practice. Speaking of the ERTF ;- our website will be going live in November www.ertf.org.uk so do look in.
In the little bit of time I have had left I've managed to get to a few exhibitions for my own enjoyment and to support our members and I went to the Kitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace on Sunday which was exhausting and expensive as usual. This year I personally found it a little too focused on the knitting side but there were some lovely exhibitions form artists such as Diane Bates, Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn and of course the new graduate showcase.
Tomorrow its back to playing 'catch up' with the degree and hopefully it won't be quite so long until my next post.