7. Napkin Diary For November 2014

Monday, 10th November

Heard something on the breakfast news that stayed with me.

There are 552 ‘top’ coaching positions in English football.

Only 19 of these positions are held by black coaches.

25% of ‘top’ players in England are black.

The football came from First Thousand Words In Spanish by Heather Amery, illustrated by Stephen Cartwright. Published by Usborne.

New Readers:

I like to make art from stuff nobody else wants. Stuff from the bin. Stuff with a secret history.

I absolutely never cut up books which could otherwise be read, or clothes which could otherwise be worn. Nor, do I erase the blemishes left by life. I cherish life’s blemishes.

A few years back, I bought six vintage linen napkins in a charity shop, for the meagre sum of two pounds. So far, I have turned three of my napkins into sewn diaries, using fast food leaflets, old magazines and books.

Each of my napkins represents a month, with a different entry for each day. For example, the day Lynda Bellingham died, I added the Oxo box from my kitchen cupboard.

November is my fourth napkin this year, the others are June (exhibited at The Mall Galleries 14th-23rd November, 2014), May and October. Some of them can be found in my shop.