It has been just two years since Connie Lindqvist passed away, well before her time, she left a large gap in the art community in Rye.
Connie Lindqvist was born in Finland in 1950, she came to Rye in 1976 and had lived here since then. Her ability as a painter made her very sought after by the Potteries of Rye. She did work for all of them at one time or another. Biddy Cole at Rye Pottery made a successful appeal to Ted Heath, the then Prime Minister, to get her work permit extended so she could stay in the country.
Connie was the owner and skipper of Vemara, a thirty foot gaff cutter in which she sailed the English Channel and Irish and Baltic Seas during summer months for the last seventeen years of her life. Living aboard and sailing a traditional vessel like Vemara is one of the reasons that made Connie such a splendid marine artist. Add this attribute to her love of Rye, its people and the abundance of marine birds, animals and plant life in the area she was able to capture in her work and it is possible to see what a wealth of creative power Rye lost with her demise.
Many of Connie’s paintings were used on the cover of “Rye’s Own”. Especially memorable were the Victorian shop at the bottom of Mermaid Street and her Boulder Boat pictures, made all the more real-istic for he knowledge of sailing.
The picture reproduced here, “Rye Delights,” was Connie’s favourite. It encompassed all the things she enjoyed about Rye life, encapsulated in one picture. The longer it is viewed the more can be seen.
Connie, who was one of Rye’s greatest champions, leaves a gap that will never be filled, but her work will live forever, for us and many after to enjoy.
From “Rye’s Own “ January 2005
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