Sculptor Antony Dufort was in the Paolozzi Masterclass with me nearly twenty years ago.
So imagine my surprise when this image dropped through my email box this morning.
For Antony was commissioned to design the new £2 coin. He wanted a modern version of Britannia, a strong contemporry woman, so he used his Polish wife for inspiration.
I have been trawling through the internet looking for ex students of the Masterclass nd Antony's email popped up .
Delighted to get a phone call from Lida Hatrick, who was in the Masterclass with me.
Born in the Czech Republic she came to the UK and took a degree in English and Russian at Edinburgh University.
It was Lida who explained Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" to us one morning during coffee break when Paolozzi asked if we were familiar with the book.
Only Lida had read it. She gave a brilliant resume which impressed even Paolozzi.
Today Lida lives in the Scottish Borders where she is a practising artist. We have arranged for her to come to Bridge of Allan in September and she will bring alaong her diary and photos from that time.
She recalls how fraught she felt during the first few days of that Masterclass and wrote her diary all in Czech so nobody could possibly read it!
Artist George Donald, co-organiser of the course along wih Geraldine Prince, lives near Lida on the Borders and visited her the other morning for coffee . That'show she learnt about the book.
Thank you George!
Paolozzi Revealed by Ann Shaw, price £12.95 .
Available from &Collectivegallery, Bridge of Allan, and Amazon. Also stocked in Blackwell's and The Fruitmarket gallery in Edinburgh and Waterstones in Stirling.
(From left to right) Amy Drewery and Avril Nicol , directors of the &Collectve gallery, Malcolm Shaw, Ann Shaw, author, and artist Catherine King with Richard King.
Video of book launch at the &Collective gallery, Bridge of Allan
Publisher Pamela Stennett with Lesley Duncan, Poetry Editor of The Herald and Amy Drewery, director of &Collective gallery.
Well, the book launch was a great success and I am delighted because it was a first event of its kind for the &Collective gallery.
An unexpected bonus was the arrival of art historian Geraldine Prince, and artist George Donald from Edinburgh who together organised the Masterclass with Paolozzi.
Geraldine gave a very entertaining speech about what it was like to try to organise a man like Paolozzi.
It was good to see old friends from my days at the Glasgow Herald ( as it then was) along with new friends.
So, thank you to everyone for making the evening such a memorable event and to film maker Joel for recording it.
And a special thank
you to publishers Kennedy & Boyd, for recording in print this moment in art
history.
Paolozzi Revealed by Ann Shaw is published by Boyd & Kennedy, price £12.99 . Available from &Collective gallery, Bridge of Allan, Fruitmarket gallery, Edinburgh, and Waterstones in Stirling . Also Amazon.
