Interview with Ellen Starr Lyon
“I create colorful, modern portraits to reflect the intense emotions within and around me, focusing on feminism, motherhood and coming of age.
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Ellen Starr Lyon, b. 1974 in Columbus, Indiana. Ellen is a figurative painter showing throughout the United States with a focus on the Midwest. She is a current member of PoetsArtists, Hoosier Salon, Indiana Artists (IN/A, Indiana Heritage Arts, and Juniper Gallery. Ms. Lyon has shown at Abend Gallery in Denver, CO, WMOCA in Wausau, WI, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL and several online exclusives on Artsy through the Zhou B Art Center and 33 Contemporary. She has been published in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine highlighting artist self-portraits. Her paintings have been featured online on sites such as Bored Panda and Buzzfeed. Ellen has a BFA in Painting and BA in Art History from Indiana University. IU has acquired several of her paintings.
Looking to the Future with Trepidation, Oil on panel
How has 2020 events affected your work?
I have always been fascinated by artists self-portraits throughout history and self-portraits have always been a part of my process. This year though, has created an atmosphere of even more intense introspection. Being isolated with much less time with family and friends, I am living in my head more. I have made several new self-portraits this year, depicting my state of mind and have begun a new series based on my inner conversations.
I started a new series during the quarantine called the Vulnerability of Man. I had hired a professional model for photo reference just before the shutdown. My original message was one of toxic masculinity. While working, it began to take on new meaning.
“I found myself painting these images during quarantine and looking at them through that lens. All I could see was the vulnerability we all feel now. Our bodies are amazing but can be brought down by something invisible to the eye. The curled protective pose, the head down, eyes closed - as if not wanting to see, not wanting it to be real. But by isolating to “flatten the curve” is also strength and promotes another cultural shift I would love to see, a shift towards being more compassionate towards one another.”
What concept or narrative is behind your work?
Right now, I am consumed with motherhood. I have been a mother for almost eighteen years now. I am tired and eager to see my children become young adults and go out into the world, but my job is not done. These years have been and will continue to be some of the most intense parenting of all. How could this not show up front and center in my current work? I stress current as I anticipate a time when my subject will change to reflect changes in my life. But for now, I am driven to paint my family. I have come to realize that in the past couple years I tended to prevaricate on my chosen subject but that needs to fall away. I am no longer the least bit apologetic. In my experience, artists are not to mention even being mothers much less make art about it. Work about children is often seen as sentimental and/or trite. To me, that is absurd because I cannot think of any stronger, deeper, fundamental, spiritual, powerful, wonderful, fearful, terrible experience than motherhood. My teens live with and reflect strong emotion, good and bad, with undercurrents of constant change and fear of the unknown. Most times I am only a voyeur offering support and at best helpful but often helpless. When I paint them- this is what I am showing you. I am so taken with the intensity of the teenage years and with that comes the need to explore and portray my experience of being woman/wife/mother. My roles are ever changing, and I use self-portraiture to reflect that. My newest work is a theme I have painted before. Simply, it is escape. It is refuge. It is respite. These self-portraits are me but yet not me. They transport me to a happy, calm, sunny place. I need that touchstone to return to. Mothering is very tough work, and we all need coping mechanisms- this is mine. Not vanity but my selfie escape hatch.
How true are you to your artist statement?
I stay fairly true to my artist statement and try to keep changing it as I experience big shifts in my work. For example, for many years I worked intently on still lifes to tell a story before shifting to figurative art about five years ago. I changed my artist statement to reflect that new direction. I will also often write artist statements specific to certain series or groups of work. This helps me to be clearer myself and give some insight to the viewer. For example, I have a series called The Vulnerability of Man, which is a parallel theme to my main work. I used a professional model for reference to make paintings about the toxic masculinity in our culture that I see as a mother of a teenage son. Below is a exerpt from that statement:
“This work is from a recent series on the vulnerability of man. It is about the great lengths we all go to hide our weakness, our feelings, and our faults - though they are there all the same. It is also about the vulnerability of men and how our culture goes to great lengths to coerce men to show only strength, a stereotypical strength, a toxic strength. Such a mistake. I believe a willingness to be vulnerable makes one strong. Growing up with brothers gave me some perspective on this and now raising a son, I am frustrated by the messaging coming from every direction on how he should act. I want to see a cultural shift away from toxic masculinity. This series is meant to show strength in vulnerability.”
How has working with our community at PoetsArtists helped your career?
Working within the PoetsArtists community has been a gamechanger! I joined just as I was really digging back into figurative work. I was introduced to such incredible painters. I continue to follow their careers while gaining insight, knowledge, and inspiration. The support of this group of artists is particularly important to me because I have few artists near me that work with the figure. PA operates on several social media platforms; this gives the artists a chance to network and build relationships worldwide. What is incredibly unique and has had the greatest impact on my career are the opportunities PA provides. With much hard work, I have been able to take advantage of more and more of the publication and exhibition calls made available. My work has been seen by so many more curators and collectors than if I had continued on my own.
What turns has your art career taken?
I feel like my career has been a slow burn until now. I attended art school, earning my B.F.A. in Painting in 1997. In those years, I was focused on the figure and worked with models as much as possible. I had much to learn. My husband and I married and lived in Boston. I applied to the M.F.A. Painting program at Boston University to study with John Walker. I still remember the interview in his studio and the pure excitement I felt. It wasn’t until we had decided to leave, given up our apartment and literally packed the moving truck, that I heard I had been accepted. Thinking I would get in, I had not prepared or found funds to attend. We left Boston, returning to the Midwest and started a family. Not attending that program has been my biggest regret. I did not stop painting though working full-time and raising children hampered my production and drive. I worked on my skills when I could and joined a local co-op gallery. I remember breastfeeding my babies at gallery meetings. I continued to show my still life paintings locally, but it was not until about five years that I returned to the figure. I had been invited to attend figure drawing sessions on campus. That first session stoked a fire in me that continues to burn. It was a true watershed moment. I felt an all-consuming drive to paint. It was frustrating at first, my skills on this score were very rusty. I then put in place a daily painting practice and began to see real improvement. I work full-time and found myself waiting for long stretches to paint; this did not get me very far. I cannot remember what instigated the daily practice but I cleared out the dining room and set up a studio in such a way that even if I only had an hour, I could sit down and paint straight away. I still paint every day after work and enjoy long hours on the weekends. The drive to paint the figure is still as strong. While I continue to develop my skills, I am able to make work that is very personal yet relatable. It is so satisfying to create an image that did not exist before. My CV tells the story, I show extensively while ever working to improve and find my audience.
Who is your art crush and why?
My top three art influences for years have been: Jenny Saville, Xenia Hausner and Paula Rego. But my art crush would have to be Joan Semmel. Her use of color, composition, and intimacy is astounding. She has always pushed boundaries, especially for women, and allowed herself to be completely vulnerable. She continues to use herself as the model; she does not seem to shy away from anything. I think of her when intimidated about something or when I question my need to paint so many self-portraits knowing it must seem so narcissistic to many viewers but if you know me, you know it is not vanity. The last thing I want to do in a day is look in the mirror but using oneself as a model is so freeing- I can use myself in any way I want, and I understand myself in a way I could not understand another.
Joan is a badass and I follow her example while daring to hope I can make as brave and compelling work as she.
I get lost in work by Semmel, the distinct unapologetic choice of subject matter and a deep intimacy. I am so moved and fascinated by how she depicts the human body. Whether it is a painting of a couple or her self-portraits, the figures are brought to us the viewer, almost served up to us. We are included in this moment; we experience it from strange angles and viewpoints. We are not to judge or even take part except to observe, to absorb, to witness. I adore the self-portraits. They are clever, often funny, emotional and so very real. My favorite paintings in general, tend to be self-portraits. I have always painted them myself. To me, they provide such insight into the artist and tell such clear stories. As with Ms. Semmel, she has used her body to tell her own stories and they are free. Free from outside interpretation, free from convention, free from misinterpretation of another’s experience. I also love the handling of the figure, they can be so abstract but also very fleshy; there is experimentation with palettes, textures and composition. She provides so much for me to learn and to enjoy.
