Geraldine Life

Geraldine Hollweg was born Geraldine James in Melbourne, Derbyshire in 1941. She attended Derby School for Girls, and then the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford.

She and Alex met there when he went to life drawing classes.

After leaving the Ruskin she became a scene painter at Derby Playhouse, and then for the RSC at Stratford and the Aldwych in London, working with John Collins.

She and Alex met again by chance in Portobello Road, London and he asked her opinion about the portfolio he was putting together for Camberwell. They drove to northwest Spain with their friend the painter Sargy Mann in their tiny fiat car, and spent 3 months living in the fishing village of Corme, where they entertained the locals with their singing duets, accompanied by Alex on the guitar. Alex and Geraldine married in 1962.

Their first home was in Bedford Park, West London. Geraldine gave up her RSC scene painting job, thinking the overnight working was too antisocial, and worked part-time at the Royal Institution while Alex went to Camberwell.  When their children Rebecca and Lucas were born in 1964 and 1967, she took care of them while Alex taught at Maidstone and did his own work. At this time she began her career as an artist enameller and silversmith. She enrolled in a weekly silversmithing course at the John Cass school in East London, and subsequently taught herself enamelling. Her studio was a small building at the bottom of the garden. She juggled her work with looking after the children, often walking in Chiswick Park and Richmond Park with them and their lurcher dog Spike.

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