Joanne Stead

Do you remember sitting in maths in high school and joking about how you'd never need to find the area of a farmer's field so what was the use of it all?... I do. I wasn't even bad at maths, I was good at it. But I remember wondering when I would ever use it all in "real life". Well this morning I am mixing resin to finish off an artwork. The two part epoxy I bought is enough to cover 1 square metre in a 3:5 hardener to resin ratio, but I only need to cover a 20 x 25 x 4cm

Yesterday I responded to a Facebook post from a woman facing a set back. She was taking a short break away, and asked what people recommended that lifted their mood when they were in a slump. Straight away I replied that "creating stuff and talking to old people" were my things. My favourite things, that always make me feel good. And once I had typed it I sat back and thought, now where did that come from? Creating stuff, yes. Art is my passion, but talking to old people

This week I've been teaching my 8 year old to knit. Her first attempt is looking a lot like my first foray into knitting. Its a bit wonky, but she is proud. And I am proud. There is something about wool. Its innate warmth and comfort. Something about the craft itself that conjures that feeling of connection to women throughout the ages, teaching their daughters, passing on knowledge, instilling that sense of comfort and pride. A single piece of yarn binding us all toget

As women, we can too easily let go of what makes us. We move to embrace dreams of romance, children and family, and we leave our passions behind. Most often, no one asks us to put ourselves last, but somehow we allow it. Until one day we wake up to realise that we have been investing in and enabling everyone else's gifts and forgetting about our own. On social media we share memes that say "I'm a mother, my hobbies include going to the bathroom alone..." (you know the one)