I first
came across Linda Edwards strolling between the stalls in Shrewsbury
Market. She was a nice, smiley
lady with blondish, quirkily-cut hair, wearing bright colours and wheeling
around a basket on wheels. I’d
always wanted a basket on wheels, so I went up and asked where she’d bought
it. I can’t remember what she
said, but not long afterwards Linda set up the Shropshire Illustrators’ and
Children’s Authors’ Café [SICA] and since then we’ve been friends.
I tell you
this because I’m sitting in Linda’s kitchen, beneath an array of woven baskets
that she brought back from Kenya after having lived there. Tea is served in
her mugs, and when I say ‘her’ I mean it quite literally. From design stage to
manufacture, these beautiful mugs decorated with Shrewsbury’s finest facades
have ‘Linda Edwards – Designed in Shrewsbury’ stamped on the bottom of them. ‘Life can be so sweet I read on the inner rim of my mug, and
around the outside I find ‘on the sunny side of the street – in Shrewsbury’.
There’s an
abundance of sunny side to be found in Linda’s work. Early in her career, she noticed the way that people were
drawn towards the positive. They
wanted sunny and uplifting - and Linda could do sunny and uplifting.
The Usborne
Children’s Bible is a case in point. That’s the complete Usborne Bible we’re
talking about here – not just some picture book with selected stories, but the
whole Bible, Old and New Testament, with full-colour illustrations on every page.
Quite a break for a first-time illustrator of children’s books, but Usborne’s
view was that commissioning any artist was a risk, so they might as well take
risks on artists they liked.
When it
first came out, the Usborne Bible garnered praise in The Daily Telegraph from
non-less than Carnegie Medal winner, Gillian Cross. When someone said that
Linda could make anything smile, even a spider, I knew just what they
meant. In the Usborne Bible even
the camels are smiling.
So how did
Linda get started as an illustrator and commercial artist? And just as importantly for the readers
of this blogsite, how did she discover Shrewsbury? I ask the question and it turns out that
the two things happened more or less together. Linda studied Geography at
Cambridge University, but had always drawn and painted in her spare time. ‘I used to sell on the railings in the
Kings Road, Chelsea - watercolours and things like that,’ Linda says. She shows me an example of the sort of
thing she used to paint. ‘They always sold. Even then, I seemed to have a feel
for what appealed.’
In 1993, a
relative newcomer to Shrewsbury, having come here for her husband’s work, Linda
found herself alone with two young children to support. She joined forces with Ludlow-based
card publishers, Clare Maddicott, and designed and built them trade stands as
well as illustrating cards. It was one of her Clare Maddicott cards that was
noticed by Usborne Books, and led to her commission to illustrate their
Children’s Bible.
‘It all took off
from there,’ Linda says, ‘it all’ referring to nineteen books for Usborne,
cards, stationery and gift-wrapping for Clare Maddicott, kitchen textiles,
ceramics, enamelware and numerous of Linda’s own illustrations and distinctive
merchandising, all in the vibrant and uplifting style she’s made her own.
Whilst we’re
talking, Linda leads me round her house and down the garden to her summerhouse,
which I’ve only ever glimpsed over her garden wall. This summerhouse is a tiny
Georgian house in miniature. We
take a glance inside and a chaise sprawls against a crumbling wall, resplendent
beneath an empty gilt frame. Cushions and rugs are scattered about. A decorated table, painted by Linda,
sports dripping candles, a sprinkling of dust and a few cobwebs Over it all hangs
a rusty candelabra. In one corner stands an old record-player. Tiny red apples
are stacked in trays.
This summerhouse
is even older than the house, apparently. Set in a garden that overlooks the town park [called the Quarry] and its walkers, cyclists, children, mums, prams and even rowers, rowing merrily
down the Severn stream, it calls to mind another of Linda’s merchandised slogans ‘Life
is But a Dream’. And this garden is a dream, no doubt about that - a romantic,
dreamy corner of Shrewsbury. It’s not hard to see where Linda finds her
inspiration.
In the centre of
the garden is an enormous Himalayan birch with snow-white branches and trunk,
and a few tenuous leaves still clinging on from autumn. Linda planted this tree
when she first came to Shrewsbury.
It was just a sapling then, but now it’s put down roots and so has
she. In fact, the Tree of Life is
the perfect leitmotif for her working life. It crops up again and again.
We’re up in the
studio now, and trees of life are on show everywhere I look - in packs of
cards, on tea cloths and framed in endless variations on the wall. I seem to remember there was even a
white tree of life on show as I came in through the front door.
Linda apologises for everything being so tidy. Recently she's been clearing up, but she wouldn't like me to think her studio is normally like this. It's a lovely studio, full of light, which would have come in useful, Linda says, back in the days when it was used as an operating theatre. I express surprise. Linda explains that this house and the ones on either side used to be a nursing home. It's hard to imagine old folk, and sick ones too, living in a house that now feels so vital and alive. But lots of children were born here, which is a happy thought.
Linda apologises for everything being so tidy. Recently she's been clearing up, but she wouldn't like me to think her studio is normally like this. It's a lovely studio, full of light, which would have come in useful, Linda says, back in the days when it was used as an operating theatre. I express surprise. Linda explains that this house and the ones on either side used to be a nursing home. It's hard to imagine old folk, and sick ones too, living in a house that now feels so vital and alive. But lots of children were born here, which is a happy thought.
I browse amongst
Linda’s merchandizing – bags, mugs and framed prints, shelves of books and
stands of greetings cards. What
does the future hold, I wonder for Linda Edwards? I pick up one of her mugs. Behind it I see coasters, bags
and prints, all bearing Linda’s drawings of Shrewsbury’s finest facades. So successful has this range been,
Linda tells me, that she and her partner, Nigel, are planning to do something
similar in other towns, including several London Boroughs. I browse through
digital collages which Linda worked on a while back in collaboration with
Shrewsbury Museum. I don't linger, however, because time's moving on and I haven't made it yet down to the Rusty Bike Gallery in Linda's basement to see some of her paintings.
These are packed
with colour, every bit as alive and vibrant as Linda’s commercial work. Inspired by poetry, especially ancient
Chinese poetry, they’re painted in oil and acrylic, with elements of collage
and more than a hint of gold. Here
I notice the Tree of Life again, only this time enclosed, the garden in the
city, the artist’s studio in the heart of town. How appropriate, I think.
My tour is nearly
over – or so I imagine. Back in
the hall, beneath a fine Jane Ray painting, I notice a series of objects in a
cabinet. What are these?
Elephants? How could I have failed before to notice a cabinet full of
elephants? Linda explains that these lovely little porcelain collectables are
based on her card designs. She brings out one of the cards to show me. It’s of a smiley elephant. In Bavaria, where
the company who made these collectables was based, Linda was known fondly as
the ‘elephant lady’.
I am
astonished. Everything in Linda’s
house has a story, and this is one I definitely want to hear. Linda lifts out a little teapot,
selecting one decorated with the design that first caught Usborne’s eye.
Together she and Clare Maddicott donated Linda’s card designs to a charity
called Trade Plus Aid, which funds development projects in Africa, Asia and
South America. The charity’s aim
is to alleviate poverty and assist disadvantaged communities to become
self-sufficient. And enough of
Linda’s enamelled teapots were sold to build two whole schools.
From Africa
back to Shrewsbury. I ask before I
leave what Shrewsbury means to Linda, why she’s stayed, and what makes it stand
out from anywhere else. Cambridge
was a beautiful city, she says, but more competitive. People in Shrewsbury come
across as far more willing to share. Take the Shropshire Illustrators’ and
Children’s Authors’ Café – people come to it to share their work, pool their
knowledge, offer professional advice. There’s no point-scoring. The atmosphere
is friendly and laid back
And people come a long way too. One of the interesting things
about Shrewsbury is that an hour from it in any direction will take you to such
divergent places as Stafford, Manchester, Birmingham and Mid-Wales.
‘After city
life, Shrewsbury can appear a bit sleepy,’ Linda says, ‘but it’s not when you get to know
it. And it’s especially not now.
The town is absolutely buzzing with life.
It’s full of new people, exciting prospects, shops opening, individuals and
groups coming up with ideas, trying things out, giving things a go.’
Linda
describes herself as rooting for Shrewsbury. She doesn’t just say it either. Her work backs up her words. ‘Life can be so sweet on the
sunny side of the street – in Shrewsbury’ proclaim her mugs and bags. And it might be night time in the rest of Shrewsbury, but the sun's still shining on Linda Edwards’ street.
A very interesting read Pauline, about a very interesting and lovely lady - who I've known for a very long time! Jean x
ReplyDeleteThank you Jean. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, every bit as sunny as I made it sound, and full of surprises too. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
ReplyDelete