A NEW BOOK celebrating the art, poetry and crafts created by a group of women during the country’s first lockdown has been published.
‘10×10 Lockdown’ features ten women artists – nine from Worcester and one from Shrewsbury – who discovered paint, pencil, camera and words to express their fears and hopes as the nation locked down in March.
The art has now been collected into one book by retired Worcester teacher Penny Perrett and tells a powerful tale of experiences during an extraordinary time.
“I have some brilliantly creative women friends,” said Penny.
“Some of them started posting their work on Facebook during lockdown and it struck me that there should be a way to have something real to capture all the creativity rather than it staying online.”
Penny, working with visual artist Sue Haslam, asked ten women artists to share ten ideas they had worked on over ten days between March and June to compile the book which has now been published, with all proceeds from sales going to Women’s Aid.
The book includes photos taken by GP Maggie Keeble as she started running in the early morning before beginning a day’s work, Lucy Dennison’s collages and paintings of the cats who kept her company during lockdown and haikus written by Anne Greer and Sara Hayward reflecting their thoughts during lockdown.
“During lockdown we all shared a new way of looking at the world, the beauty of calm and the sound of birdsong, while those of us who were alone missed the comfort of friends and family,” said Penny.
“So we found new ways of distracting ourselves from watching too much news and the results are amazing.”
10×10 Lockdown costs £10.99, with all proceeds going to Women’s Aid.
