Resilience!
In 2022, I invited Kirstie Macloed to bring The Red Dress to Abergavenny, because I couldn’t stop thinking about the two weeks I had spent alongside it when it came to Bleddfa, following my invitation (and the first trip to Wales for the Dress).
The presence of The Red Dress, and the emotional impact it has when seen up close, stirs a visceral reaction each time I view it!
I wanted to respond creatively to the Dress, and I felt it should also be a community project, a Welsh version. To find out more about this, you can read about it here , under The Community Shawl Project.
For a long time, I had also been thinking about enroling on a Masters degree in Contempory Crafts, but kept thinking it wasn’t ‘the right time’… something about this second event with Kirstie, and the decision to go public with my community project, made me contact Hereford College of Arts again, and this time, complete the application form.
I was beyond delighted to be accepted, and then there was a lot of hilarity on enrolement day, as it was the same day as the registry office ceremony for me and Ed! That was part 1 of our wedding, with our “real day” following on the weekend. It also seemed to be a good omen!
The course began September 2022, and usually runs for 15 months.
So many feelings and thoughts! I felt elated, I was struck with imposter syndrome, I had a frenzy of making and sometimes sat blinking at the wall… mainly I was just really happy to be enveloped in creativity.
In February 2023, everything turned on its head, collapsing one day, a rush to hospita;l, and a 2nd cancer diagnosis, and several operations. The physiacl, mental and emotional impacts meant I needed two ‘interruptions of studies’. and a return to college in March 2025, with completion in January 2026. There are other places where I have recorded more of these details… but I want to focus in this thread on the results of the last 4 years!
The Shawl project gave me the confidence to co-create “threads - weaving stories”, a womens art collective to focus on curating womens art to express our lived experiences, I then curated two exhibitons in 2025 with ‘threads’; one for International Womens Day with other women artists at Found Gallery in Brecon; another with The Red Dress and 4 other women artists at Theatr Brycheniniog. In 2026 we exhibited for International Womens Day at The Art Shop & Chapel in Abergavenny, as well as collaborating with Dance Blast Monmouthshire.
My M.A. focused on the following; how creativity positively impacts our wellbeing, how creating collaboratively, especially for women, is so powerful, and that all womens voices are amplified.
I included the Community Shawl, the collaborative projects and my workshops as examples of these, but I also talked about how all these are also very powerful and essential for my wellbeing and my recovery.
In doing this, I gained the confidence to relearn sewing by hand, and with a sewing machine - and I was so excited when the college staff introduced me to the free-motion sewing techniques and machine feet!
I have created a shawl to tell my story, to stand alongside the community story, and created it as part of my MA, in the style of a ceremonial shawl, In searching for a name for this second shawl, I was rummaging through past copies of written work, and found a short story about a young woman I had called Atai. She had to overcome obstacles and perform rituals, and seemed to be the perfect name. Following the MA, I created a third shawl - The Witness Shawl. This sits between the first two and acts to ensure all voices are heard equally.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole process - learning new skills and exploring my story at the same time has been fascinating.
I am really looking forward to developing this in other ways.
