Her Space - Kiwi She Sheds, Back Rooms and The Kitchen Table

Her Space

Kiwi She Sheds, Back Rooms and The Kitchen Table

by Marilyn Jessen

Bateman - $39.99

 

New Zealand women are extraordinarily creative. They knit, they weave, they write and they build. They are jewellers and milliners, painters and sculptors, crafters and collectors. Marilyn Jessen spent a year interviewing over 60 inspirational women, from Hokianga in the north to the Catlins in the south, to bring us Her Space.

Following a successful career in business management, Marilyn decided on a change in direction. She completed a Media Arts degree, and became a specialist teacher in music, photography and film-making. Marilyn has now harnessed her creative skills to both write and photograph Her Space.

 ‘I have had the privilege of stepping into the spaces of over 60 artistic, creative and inspirational women, who are living and loving life by following their passion. They are some of the busiest women I have met, and yet they manage to carve out time to do what undoubtedly comes from the heart,’ Marilyn says.

‘We know them as daughters, partners, wives and mothers, and as carers and career women who juggle busy lifestyles and multiple roles, while satisfying their deepest desire to create. Our lives are enriched by their work.’

The women featured in Her Space are at varying stages of their creative journeys. Some are at the beginning, working at a day job and creating in their precious spare time. Some have taken the leap of faith and given away the security of a steady income to do what they love, hoping and believing that the money will follow. And there are a few who have been at it for long enough to know that it is financially sustainable, even if things do get a little scary along the way.

They are ordinary women made extraordinary by doing what many of us silently yearn to do: follow our passion. All have faced challenges — physical, financial and emotional — but they do it anyway.

 Each woman’s Her Space is truly unique, ranging from small to large, basic to lavish, and from kitchen tables to back rooms, to garages and ‘she sheds’ tucked down the garden path.

Also featured in Her Space are ‘food for thought’ pages including ‘Getting Started Creatively’, ‘Staying Passionate about Being Creative’, and ‘Creating Your Very Own Her Space’, each providing tips and strategies to assist readers on their creative journeys.

Turning a creative passion into a full-time job is a serious step. Marilyn includes a ‘Marketing and Money’ section to assist creatives in navigating the business side of their creative enterprise.

Marilyn says: ‘I hope readers will find, within the pages of Her Space, someone to identify with, something new to try, or someone to be inspired by, and above all that readers get excited about creating their own unique, inspirational, and productive Her Space.