Laurie Self

Laurie Self (born Lawrence Self) (27 January 1924 - 28 December 2001) was a painter, born in Sutton, Surrey. After Brentwood School and three years service in the forces, Lawrence attended Wimbledon School of Art 1947-1949, moving to the Royal College of Art 1949-1952. In 1957 he moved to Suffolk teaching at the Ipswich School of Art, during which time was an assistant to Colin Moss in the life drawing classes. Mainly a landscape painter he painted portraits and still life and exhibited them at several institutions such as the Royal College of Art, Royal Society of Painters in Water Colour and the Royal Academy. His solo shows began at the East Anglian Gallery, Ipswich in 1963 and later at Gainsborough's House, Sudbury. He lived at Keepers Mead, Lower Road, Rattlesden, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and died at the West Suffolk Hosptial, Bury St Edmunds on 28 December 2001, leaving behind his wife, fellow artist Ashe Ericksson and several children. 
== Links To Peel ==
Peel described Laurie Self as a friend and neighbour. On the programme of 20 October 1991, he suggests that listeners should visit an exhibition of the artists's work in Ipswich. Later, he arranged for pictures of Self's work to be displayed in the foyer of the Royal Festival Hall when he was curating the 1998 Meltdown arts festival.
Peel paid tribute to the artist after his death in the Radio Times in an article (later reprinted in the Olivetti Chronicles, Corgi edition, p240) under the title of New Year's Eve:
"Laurie was one of a small number of people I have known that I have admired unreservedly. Among the happiest days of my life were those in the eighties when Laurie and I cycled out across East Anglia almost everyday with a pub as our short-term destination and extreme fitness as our unrealistic goal. Laurie Self, fifteen years my senior, was as gentle and funny a person as I have known, and if there is any good in me then at least a part of it will have come directly from my friend. Four of Laurie's paintings, a distillation of the spirit of the Suffolk countryside through which we cycled together, hang on our walls, but we won't need them to remind ourselves that here was a lovely man."
== External Links ==
* Google Books (Olivetti Chronicles)
* Suffolk Painters
* Lawrence Self (1924-2002) at Art UK Paintings by Laurie Self, held in East Anglian museums
Category:People