Community spotlight: Janet Leckie's 80th birthday exhibition

Here Janet explains her retrospective exhibition and shares some images - it might even inspire you too...

I recently celebrated my 80th birthday in a rather unusual way and listening to the Robert Lee Davis podcast this morning inspired me to write and tell you about it. When Robert was talking about creating a meaningful life landscape to celebrate a significant birthday it resonated with me because that is what I recently did but not as a picture.

I have always enjoyed working with textiles and have also tried painting and collage, including the course with Donna Watson. To celebrate turning 80 I held a retrospective exhibition at home and invited friends and family to come and visit any time between 11 and 4 on a particular Saturday. We stripped our house of most art work and ornaments and hung or displayed my work throughout the house with captions including the year of making.

The earliest stitching was from a scrap book my mother made with samples from me aged 6. There were also items from my time studying decorative needlework at school including the theory folder. It was astonishing what I found around the house and was able to display. Over the years I have usually photographed works that I have given away or sold so I set up a continuous slide show of those items too.

We had a coffee cart at the front door with a barista there all day and simple catering at the back of the house in the kitchen. There was also the odd bottle of bubbles usually appreciated at art show openings! There were brief speeches from the family and a stunning cake made by a young friend.

Altogether a very successful and enjoyable day with about 100 visitors aged from 8 weeks to 92 years chatting together and enjoying the art. A life landscape spread large but just for a day.

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We love that Janet shared this with us and was happy for us to share this with you!

Thank you Janet. Happy birthday x