My mother, Sylvia Pike, who has died aged 85, was a prominent member of the Midland Group of artists, established in Nottingham in 1943, which under her stewardship achieved national and international recognition. She eventually became director of the group, seeking out interesting work, staging exhibitions of real importance and showing the early creations of artists who subsequently became highly influential.
Sylvia was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, the only child of Walter Gaze Cooper, the composer, musician and collector of ancient art, and his wife Frances. Despite her musical heritage, Sylvia's real talent was for art, which she studied at Derby College of Art. It was there that she met John Pike, an architect. John and Sylvia were married in 1955 and had four children, making a family home in Hawksworth, Nottinghamshire, from 1965.