Evlynn Smith

Evlynn Smith (born Evelynn Ann Smith, 8 September 1962 – 18 April 2003) was a Scottish artist, designer and furniture maker. She was married to the artist Sebastian Horsley from 1983 to 1990, ran various art therapy groups in Scotland during the 1980s (some with Jimmy Boyle), and set up the design company Precious McBane with Meriel Scott in 1993.

Career & personal life

The daughter of a Scottish painter and decorator, Smith was raised in poverty with five siblings. In 1981 she met Sebastian Horsley, and they were married two years later on the island of Iona.^[1]

In 1983 she completed a foundation degree at the Chelsea College of Arts and was offered the chance to study sculpture at Central Saint Martins. She accepted the place, but deferred her entry in order to co-direct the Gateway Exchange project in Edinburgh, with reformed gangster Jimmy Boyle and his wife; a charitable organisation designed to rehabilitate drug addicts and ex-convicts through art therapy. In 1987 she co-founded the Fighting Back workshops, which used art therapy to raise awareness of and reduce suffering for victims of HIV and AIDS.^[2]

In 1990 she moved to London and attended Central Saint Martins, also divorcing from Sebastian Horsley (reportedly after both she and he had engaged in long term affairs with Jimmy Boyle).^[3] In 1993, together with Meriel Scott, Smith founded and ran the bespoke art and furniture-design company Precious McBane, popular with celebrities such as Prince, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Sophie Dahl.

On the 18th of April 2003 Smith suffered a brain aneurysm and died at her London home. She was 40 years of age.

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