Wednesday, November 22, 2006

NOVEMBER IS HANNAH FRANK MONTH!

so much to say, so little time! We've been on Woman's Hour.... we have our first London exhibition.... we have an 'at home' at a gallery in the West End of Glasgow where they're having a Hannah Frank experience inthe whole complex, not just the little gallery....the sales of prints and cards has taken off... everything seems to be perfect! Auntie Hannah is in great form and I'm really looking forward to seeing her tomorrow. I have just interviewed her by phone for the Glasgow Evening Times and although this is an 'exclusive' I'll just say here the answers to one of the questions which I thought was so great and reflected Auntie Hannah so perfectly:

'what advice would you give to a young Glasgow artist setting out now'...

"Ignore the whole lot of them, just do what you want to do and what you’re happy doing, and if it so happens that people like it, all the better, but don’t set out just so that people will like it. You do what you have to do and what you like doing. I can’t make it clearer than that. If something good comes of it, all the better. If people agree with you and like it, all the better still."

I'm doing a talk tomorrow at a Glasgow University DACE (dept of adult education) course about my aunt's life and work and how it fits in to the story of Jewish Immigration to Glasgow....

I'm hoping that the increased print sales will allow us to make a proper documentary of my aunt's life while she's still alive: I'm working with a wonderful visual anthropologist and we're planning a 'road trip' to the places that she visited on holiday when she was young. I've just had contact from a woman in Saltcotes whose dad remembers the Franks coming to stay in the house next door, when he was a young boy, and Hannah sitting drawing with his older sister Jane Platts, who died young. There's so much to find out about. There are still some 'lost' drawings here and there... so watch this space! and contact me on the email address on the website (http://www.hannahfrank.org.uk) for ANYTHING about Hannah Frank!