My Story…

Lynne was born in Nelson, Lancashire in 1949. After attending Nelson Grammar School she completed one year of teacher training at Rolle College, Exmouth before a peripatetic career mainly in cooking; starting at Cranks in London via a Youth Hostel in Saffron Walden before culminating at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge where she worked as a State Registered Nurse.

By this time she was married, had borne two sons and bought an old village school in the Fens. The departure of her husband left her with no money and no income and entirely because of Margaret Thatcher’s forty pound a week Enterprise Allowance she opened the Lynne Strover Gallery without contacts, experience or even an Art ‘O’ level!

Making the large property work for her she learnt on her feet, and she learnt quickly, gleaning inspiration down the road at Kettle’s Yard and further afield in St Ives, Cornwall. She discovered the St Ives School in the early nineties and introduced established artists to Cambridge often before their careers took off in London: Rose Hilton, widow of Roger Hilton, Kurt Jackson and Breon O’Casey.

In 2001 Lynne bought a fabulous flat in Downalong, adjacent to the recently opened Tate St Ives, and the town became her second home. There were many memorable visits to see Breon O’Casey in nearby Trungle and through his encouragement she went to West Dean College on a silver spoon making course. When she showed Breon her first creations, and confessed she had copied him, his riposte “not to worry, I copied the Romans”.

This was the start of a new direction. The silver smithing/jewellery making became less of a hobby and more of a passion and after twenty seven years in the gallery Lynne decided she needed more time for her own creativity and to spend less time supporting others in theirs.

It was a great wrench when she decided to sell both the Fen Ditton property, which had been her family home and business for thirty five years, and her flat in St Ives but she found the perfect house in the perfect street in Cambridge and after extensive building work she finally moved in spring 2018 and she hasn’t looked back!

Her love of ceramics began with the Suffolk potter Robin Welch who encouraged her to show top names like Gordon Baldwin, Ewen Henderson, Joanna Constantinidis. She has a treasured collection of Leach pottery including work from Bill Marshall, Richard Batterham and Jim Malone.

Her modest art collection  by contemporary British painters including Daisy Cook, Peter Joyce, Fred Ingrams, together with sculpture from Breon O’Casey, Laurence Edwards beautifully complement her small stylish house.

Please get in touch direct to arrange a studio visit.

Commissions taken

A selection of work can be seen on sale @primaveragallery.co.uk