Hodgkin and Froy - artists

 
I have known Catherine Froy for a couple of years as one of the quieter professional artists who exhibit regularly with us in Open Studios and I have long admired her minimal abstract work.
 
She is a very shy person and I knew little about her personal ,or early life until this afternoon while visiting her studio and 
I made some startling discoveries.
 
A painting on the floor caught my eye, picking it up I remarked:
“Do you like the work of Howard Hodgkin?”
 
Catherine smiled and nodded: “ I knew him. My father taught him. He had a house near us in Wiltshire and we used to go there as children.”
 
Then she revealed that her father was Martin Froy a distinguished artist in his own right who had taught at all the major art college in the UK including Head of Painting at Chelsea School of Art and Professor of Fine Art at the University of Reading, and a former trustee of the National Gallery and the Tate.
 
Oh yes she knew Terry Frost and her parents knew John Piper too she added casually…
 
As for Hodgkin yes he has been a major influence on her work, along with her father.
 
   
Another surprise was that Catherine studied dance for a year at Goldsmith
College graduating later from the Slade in 1982.

Sometimes shy people reveal the most amazing stories...