Lynda Taylor: Artist

The window of the Bridge Street Gallery is a treat to look at.
Locals and visitors can often be seen looking at the wonderful items and paintings on display.

Lynda sells her own work, but also sells the highest quality handmade items by other professional makers. You can trust her judgement on what she chooses, as she has an impressive background with 3D Design knowledge, and because of her background as a potter.!

I was delighted when Lynda agreed to be interviewed by me, for the Northumberland Gazette in July 2019.
A lot has happened since then. You can read the original interview below, and at the end, an update.

The interview from 2019:

Lynda was born in Co Durham in 1956. Her father came from a long line of mining engineers.

As a child, Lynda loved to watch sand martins flying out of the cliff of her father's quarry. She would search for fossils, and study the different types of rock. With such a foundation it is unsurprising that Lynda has specialised in painting landscapes that show a keen eye for the changing shapes, colours and textures of the beautiful Coquetdale landscape.

“I am always looking and analysing. Why is that outcrop there? Why are these stones a different colour? I'm always looking, I am drawn to the landscape”.

Her mother was also a major influence on Lynda's creativity. “Her hands were never still, she was always making something, lacework, embroidery, quilting”. Her mother's tales of life 'in-service' to the painter of royalty and aristocracy, Philip de Laszlo, also affected Lynda's choice of career. At 16 she went to study art at Newcastle College, then 3D design at Manchester Polytechnic.

After graduating, Lynda and her husband, Graham, were chosen to work with the famous potter Joe Finch, and his equally famous painter wife, Trudi.

After three years of learning about the pottery business, Lynda and Graham moved to Lesotho, in Southern Africa. Here they managed a large domestic stoneware pottery established by Joe and Trudi.

The Kolonyama Pottery was created to give employment to local Basotho people.

After it closed, Lynda and Graham set up, within the Art Department of Machabeng International School, an Art College.

Lynda is justifiably proud of the legacy they left: “We had a big impact, there had been no art on the syllabus. But by the end of our time there, we had trained a lot of people in fine art, ceramics, and allied subjects. The students we taught have gone on to have successful careers in a range of art-based occupations”.

Lynda explains:

The college was for students who wanted to go on to further education in the Arts other countries, but who didn't have any formal Art qualifications. We offered IB Certificates in Art, which would be valid a entry qualification for Universities.

Lynda's distinctive signature.

The family came back to Coquetdale, Graham's birthplace, after 20 years away. Lynda shows me a beautiful ceramic plate she made when in Lesotho. Delicate brushstrokes reveal a sensitive scene painted onto it. “This looks like the beginning of your landscape work?” I ask. Lynda agrees. She began painting canvases in The Crown Studio when they bought the property in 2001. “I stopped making ceramics, and began painting landscapes”.

Lynda sells her own original paintings and prints, and other beautiful pictures and objects, made by UK artists and designers. Crown Studio Gallery, Bridge St, Rothbury NE65 7SE

Lynda's work covers private commissions, original paintings and affordable high quality prints on paper and canvas. Her work is very much sought after, bringing the vivid spirit of Northumbria to homes all over the world.

You can find out a great deal more about Lynda, and her work: Lynda's Website.

Lynda is open to taking private commissions, details on her website.