The Artist's Survival Cookbook Workshop
When I was asked by my colleague to write a Pecha Kucha style talk for our students, which gave me 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell them something interesting, I decided to tell them one of the most important lessons I learnt that year. Sometimes you find, as a creative, that you end up 'stuck'. Stuck because of a bad situation or stuck because you have to fit being creative in between working 9 hours a day and doing the washing. There are many reasons we can become stuck and that is exactly where I found myself last year. I learnt something valuable then, that it is easy to become a product of your environment. What I shared with the students was to surround yourself with like minded and inspiring people. It sounds so obvious and simple, and it is! The people you choose to surround yourself with can impact your life and creativity immensley. Don't loose touch with your tutors and mentors or uni friends, the ones you spent all-nighters with. Find these people and keep them close. But most importantly be that inspiring person for someone else. This post is about one of those people in my life. A person who I can always rely on when I am 'stuck'. On the rainiest day in November, Dietlind held a workshop in a beautiful church hall, with pink walls and brown curtains. It was to launch her book, The Artist's Survival Cookbook, a book full of recipes made from flour and water and a few other basic ingredients for anyone who wants to avoid preservatives and artificial flavours. The kitchen soon filled to the brim with people baking pizza, pasta, scones and chapati and tucking into freshly baked bread and chilled mint tea. This post is to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to my friend and mentor. For more images of the event check out the Dede blog.