Orphaned at the age of nine, Mikey Cuddihy left the U.S. to board at an experimental British school. A vivid and intense memoir of coming of age amidst the unraveling social experiment of the late 1960s. When Mikey Cuddihy was orphaned at the age of nine, her life exploded. She and her siblings were sent from New York to board at experimental Summerhill School, in England, and abandoned there. The setting was idyllic, lessons were optional, pupils made the rules. Joan Baez visited and taught Mikey guitar. The late sixties were in full swing, but with total freedom came danger. Mikey navigated this strange world of permissiveness and neglect, forging an identity almost in defiance of it. 

A Conversation About Happiness: The Story of a Lost Childhood

Biographies & Memoirs

Cuddihy, Mikey

Memoirs

ATLANTIC BOOKS *

Orphaned at the age of nine, Mikey Cuddihy left the U.S. to board at an experimental British school. A vivid and intense memoir of coming of age amidst the unraveling social experiment of the late 1960s. When Mikey Cuddihy was orphaned at the age of nine, her life exploded. She and her siblings were sent from New York to board at experimental Summerhill School, in England, and abandoned there. The setting was idyllic, lessons were optional, pupils made the rules. Joan Baez visited and taught Mikey guitar. The late 1960s were in full swing, but with total freedom came danger. Mikey navigated this strange world of permissiveness and neglect, forging an identity almost in defiance of it. 

<p>Lorna Robertson’s colorful paintings, often made with a combination of oil paint and collage, have a distinctly nostalgic tone. Shimmering female forms with swinging skirts from the 1950s or bonneted bathers from the 1920s jostle with richly described interiors and crowded tabletops. Hints and glimpses of tangible forms––a fashion model, for example, or a vase––appear and then fragment into patterns and explosions of color.\nThis new publication coincides with Robertson’s exhibition at Ingleby Gallery and is divided into sections that feature collections of recent large paintings by the artist (2015–2022), small paintings (all 2022) and works on paper (2016–2022), all of which demonstrate Robertson’s characteristic layered interpretations of the female form alongside recurring motifs such as hats, long dresses, and flowers. Her drawings (2018–2020) offer fluid forms in ink, pencil and watercolor.\nAn essay by art critic Hettie Judah explores Robertson’s work in terms of pattern, costume, and architecture, drawing out key inspirations including tapestry, advertising, and magazine design through abstracted forms. The influence of contemporary female painters and those from art history is further considered.\nIn another text, Robertson is in conversation with artist and writer Mikey Cuddihy. This frank interview reveals much about Robertson’s intuitive working processes: from starting points, color decisions, the rhythms of brushwork, and considerations of scale, to the wider relationship between text, music, drawing, and painting.\nThe publication is edited by Ingleby Gallery, designed by Joanna Deans, Identity, printed by Albe De Coker, and co-published by Ingleby Edinburgh, and Anomie, London. The publication coincides with Robertson’s first solo exhibition "thoughts, meals, days" at Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, in 2022. The artist is represented by Ingleby Gallery.</p>

Lorna Robertson – thoughts, meals, days

Arts & Photography

Judah, Hettie

Robertson, Lorna

History & Criticism

Anomie Publishing

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Books by Cuddihy, Mikey