Women who 'can' and who definitely 'do'

 Last month I went to an exhibition  showing a wide range of work by textile and mixed media artist Rozanne Hawksley. Rozanne lives in Pembrokeshire, as do other artists, Audrey Walker and Eirian Short. All three worked together at Goldsmiths and are internationally recognised in their field so it was wonderful that we were able to see a selection of Rozanne's thoughtful, poignant and very moving work locally. Every time I went into town I went to the exhibition, often seeing visitors to the area moved by what was on show. The exhibition culminated in a talk by Rozanne which felt more like a chat with a great friend. It was a very informal Saturday afternoon finale to something very special. At 82 Rozanne is still exploring the themes of death and mortality in different religions and cultures and she is currently working on a commission for the Naval Museum that will form part of their centenary commemorations of the Great War next year. Currently in the local hospital recovering from a hip replacement I was energised by her desire to keep working through all the ideas she has still to realise. To say she is an inspiration is an understatement.

Earlier in the summer a friend and I spent a day on a workshop with Welsh artist Mary Lloyd Jones, another person still passionate about her art and still working in her late seventies. Mary was working at that point towards an exhibition at the Craft Centre at Ruthin, an exhibition which is now on tour and which has just opened in Carmarthen. I went along to see it this afternoon and it is a joyous mix of new paintings generated by a trip to New Mexico and her vibrant textile pieces. There is a great review of it here. I remember reading quite a few blog posts after the Festival of Quilts in 2012 where her work had been on show. People were bowled over by her use of colour and the scale of her work. The textile pieces in the new exhibition are large and contain little vignettes of pattern that I wanted to put a frame around just as they were. What I remember most about the workshop was Mary's genuine pleasure and excitement at some of the work we produced. She kept making us question what we were looking at, what we were feeling and encouraging us to go with our instincts and work intuitively. We worked hard that day and all most of us wanted to do was rest after it but Mary was excited about a party she was going to that evening where she hoped to catch up with her friend Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales...

.... and in the way that things go full circle I went to a poetry reading on Saturday night by Gillian Clarke and another friend of hers, Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate. Again, held locally in 'out in the middle of nowhere Pembrokeshire', they were performing as part of a local writers festival and the venue was packed to the rafters. I've long been a fan of Carol Ann Duffy and it was magic to hear her read some of her witty, clever poems from 'The World's Wife' but I had never read any of Gillian's poems before so her work was completely new to me. At the end of the night I felt ashamed of my ignorance. Her poems were a joy and to hear them read by the person who knew every nuance of the meaning was something special. It was also beautiful to hear the Welsh language spoken by such a lyrical voice. Hearing her talk so movingly about growing up in Wales during the war and visiting her Pembrokeshire granny with her father as he travelled the country as a BBC engineer was fascinating.

All three of these wonderful women have enriched the world for me this summer. As I creep up to my 60th year and start receiving letters about cashing in some of my pensions I know that the old idea that this was the age when things wound down is long gone. When I think of the things all three artists have achieved and are still achieving, whilst having a 15 to 20 year head start on me, I am humbled. Time to start planning for my 60th year and beyond. There is obviously lots to look forward to and get on with!!