Red Thread....Ovan and...Health...and...Me

Red Thread 1,5 week ago colleagues and students from Glasgow and Puchov came to our school to work on the International Textile project: Red Thread. Since many years I am coordinating those projects for our department and it is one part of my work I really enjoy. It has given me a lot over the years Meeting up with colleagues and students from various countries adds something special to my work. And after all: Fashion is and International subject so in my opinion a Fashion department can't work with out it.

After doing Fashion projects over the last years this project focusses more on Textiles.The fabric itself and how to make a good textile project. The main aim is to set up an International Textile Brand witch sells good products designed and made by students. The 3 schools involved have all 3 their own strong points and we use each-other strength.

I have know he colleagues from the 2 other schools already for many years and over the years we all have become friends with each other. So meeting up is always a joy and next to the hard work we have lots to talk about and have loads of fun.

This meeting was about the production of cushion covers. Designs for the prints on the cushion covers were made by students from the 3 countries and than send to Glasgow. Judging there was done by a group of teachers and the designer from Timorous Beasties: Alistair McAuley. After that the designs were printed by students in Glasgow on fabric for cushion covers and tea towels.

When they were shown we all got very exited..and they all looked great!! Next to the production of the covers a logo needed to be made to sew on the cushions. With hard work we managed to finish in time and the result looks great. From everything made photos were taken at the Photo Studio in our school and soon the web site will be on air..The coming year we will work on Marketing and on developing from more products. At the final meeting we hope to open a Guerilla Store in Glasgow which really will be exiting.

Ovan.... In-between the hectic of those days I also had to go to the meeting were the winner of the Most Excellent Medium level Student in our school was presented. I did put one student Ovan Abdullah forward and to my and his surprise he was the winner!!!! and now he will go to the National Competition in September..I am very pleased for him because he really deserves it. He is born in Irak and came with his family to the Netherlands. He has become a real Dutchman but never forgets the country he came form and still has a good connection with it. For me he is an example of how to integrate without loosing your cultural background. After his training last year in Copenhagen he really progressed in his work.. So.. let's cross our fingers!!!

On Friday we visited with the Textiel Museum in Tilburg with the International Group. It is one of my favourite museums because next to Tradition it show High-Tech possibilities and in the Textile Lab artists students from all education types can work and experiment. From Marc Mulders ,a famous Dutch painter a wall tapestry is in working progress.I love his work but unfortunatley I can't afford it at the moment. I would love to go there myself to work and experiment for days.. Who knows...The textile museum offers many wonderful things from tradition as these colour full blankets from the sadly lost firm Mommers till the beautiful chairs in the restaurant from Konstatin Gricic During that visit I again discovered that my real passion lies within Textiles and not so in Fashion. From a young age Textile was the one thing I loved. My mother was really good in sewing and knitting and I guess she passed that in a way over to me.

On and On it was a really good meeting and am already looking forward to the next meting in Puchov.

Health... Over the past months Bram and me did search for a solution for his health problems and also over the past months I had to come to terms with it. Well... we got the results from the blood tests from out Ortho- Molecular Doctor and out came that there is a big lack in various Vitamins and Minerals which link to his problems.F.E. Vitamine D he really lacks. This weekend an article in the papers also showed that that is a very important vitamine. He now has to take those V & M's in a big quantity and hopefully that will work out positive for him. In about 2 weeks we have to go back and see if there are changes. Changes will go very slow we know but we hope for the best.It was really a big relief to see that something is really wrong and before we went we both had this idea what to do if nothing was found and what to do next than.

And Me: I have the feeling that the big mourning is over and feel much better than months before. Of course it is not always easy to live with someone who is always tired but : it is the way it is and I can't change that. Acceptance have come in to my mind and I keep focussing on the things we can do instead of the things we can't do any more. Small things have a huge impact on me at the moment. This Spring feels so powerful to me and last weekend I planted some herbs, flowers, tomatoes and ruccola and it felt so nice to do those little things which made me really happy. So soon I hope to harvest some salat-leaves and I am sure they will taste heavenly.I also did start a photoproject on Facebook (yes: I am sort of addicted to FB0 with the photo album "The Colour of the Day"in which I put photos from a subject I did see that day in one specific colour and here are some examples. I enjoy doing it and it keeps me focused on a thing. Love it till now..

Next to that I had a really interesting meeting last week with a friend and he came to me with a question he needed help for and he helped me to search also for answers on a question about work and my work as Artist Coach I really enjoy at the moment and with that feeling I want to do more in the future. It is not really clear at the moment but he will help me the coming months to make things more clear. This sounds not very clear while writing it down but words that came up are: Life Stories, Originality, Deconstruction,Enchantment, Visions, Authenticity and some more. I am already thinking about it but one thing already has come out of it: I am not going to study to become a Coach.. guess that competence is already available within myself.

P.s. After I did write my previous mail in which I write about the Wandsworth quilt made by prisoners I did wrote an e-mail to Fine Cell Works telling them how much I liked the quilt and the big impact it had on me. I got a very nice reply back in which was written that: "My director has seen your email, and now hopes that the men involved with making the quilt will be able to read your comments (and the comments of other people). We will of course not include your email address or surname for security reasons, but we know how much it will mean to them to know that the public seeing the exhibition are so moved by the quilt they made"