'This notebook was a big challenge for me. I would consider myself to be a 'lapsed artist', who had great intentions of continuing and developing my arts practice after I finished college. I found my early teaching career fulfilling, but tiring - I was always sharing, and in a sense 'giving away' my ideas, so that was my excuse not to make art anymore. But in my role as Arts Officer I have seen artists who make the time and sacrifices to make art, rather than make excuses about why they haven't. This notebook was a stepping stone for me to get back into making. Initially it brought anxiety, but gradually I got back into the rhythm of making and recording and looked forward to adding to it. I didn't have an overall plan in making the notebook, but on reviewing the finished piece, can see how having two young children has influenced my work. I like the fact that the notebook has captured glimpses of that particular time and has given me the impetus to get back into my own practice'.

Lucina Russell studied Art and Design (Textiles) in GMIT, and has a Post Graduate Teaching Diploma in Art and Design Education from the Limerick School of Art, receiving the ‘Irish Times Award for Outstanding Performance’. She completed a research Masters Degree in Art and Design Education in the National College of Art and Design in 2002. Lucina worked as an art teacher at primary and second level and in Artist in Residence programmes across Inner City Dublin for a number of years, before joining Kildare County Council as Arts Officer in 2000