First art show is fruit of two lifetimes
Jun 1 2009 by Tamzin Lewis, The Journal
Northumberland’s Art Tour features a solo exhibition of colourful landscapes by Linda Scott-Robinson. As she embarks on her debut show, she tells Tamzin Lewis about a debt of gratitude to her father
THERE is no doubt that artistic talent can be as hereditary as eye colour. In Linda Scott-Robinson’s case it was her Polish father who passed on his talent and love of painting landscapes. After painting all her life, she is now exhibiting for the first time in a solo show as part of Northumberland’s Art Tour.
Linda says: “I have always painted and at school, it was probably the only thing I was ever good at. My dad was a talented painter, but he never did it seriously or exhibited his work.
“He encouraged me to paint and draw and showed me techniques, while my mum couldn’t draw at all. The artistic side was definitely on my dad’s side.”
Incredibly, Linda’s father Hieronym Puchala survived a Soviet massacre of Polish troops in the Second World War. Although he never talked in detail about his war experiences to Linda, he did share his story with his Polish family. As a border guard, Hieronym fought the Red Army during the Russian invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was captured as a prisoner of war.
He was moved to Ostaszków, one of three notorious Russian camps which were ‘cleared’ under Stalin’s orders in March 1940. About 22,000 Polish prisoners, military and civilian, were killed by the Soviets and dumped in mass graves, including at Katyn Forest.
Possibly because he was very young, Hieronym survived and was moved to a prison camp in northern Poland, where many died in harsh conditions. In 1941, the Polish Anders Army was allowed to form in the USSR and the surviving unit was passed from Soviet to British control. Many troops, including Hieronym, were transferred through Iraq and Palestine and eventually came to the UK. Amid rumours that Stalin’s secret police were tracking down Polish soldiers, he changed his surname to Scott when he settled in Glasgow as a watchmaker, with his Scottish wife, Linda’s mother.
Linda, 49, now lives near the Scottish border in a converted school near Wooler with her husband Tony and two horses, Pippa and Iona Mist.
After moving to the North East, she studied a part-time diploma in art and design at Sunderland University, finishing in 1994, and two years later took her current position as an IT and marketing officer at Newcastle University’s Centre for Sport.
She says: “I painted off and on since doing the diploma, but about four years ago I started painting more seriously and have been building on it. I am very inspired by the landscape of north Northumberland.
