We recently connected with Tanya Lyons and have shared our conversation below.
Tanya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project that I’ve worked on is a grouping of four life size cloaks titled Transforming with Glass. I had received a Canada Council for the Arts grant to Explore change with glass. For a year I worked on these pieces, I made the cloak forms out of stainless steel mesh and then added glass elements made with different techniques and other mixed materials. The cloaks represent different states of change, from the seasons, the moon phases, opening and closing and transformations in life.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
After 14 years in Quebec, making sculptural work and exhibiting locally and in the United States with Galerie Elena Lee, I moved back to my hometown community in Ontario to raise my daughter and continue my work with glass. During this time I have continued to teach in the glass program at the Haliburton School of Art and Design. I have been a collaborating artist with the Ottawa Valley Community Arts organization and the Coordinator of the Madawaska Valley Studio Tour.
I have always been a gatherer, collecting and taking in, objects, moments and memories. I use glass in combination with natural and found objects to express and reflect my experiences, thoughts and questions about the world we live in and who we are. My work has been exhibited throughout North America, Europe and Japan and is in many private and public collections including the Musee National des Beau-arts du Quebec.
After receiving a Canada Council for the Arts Grant to explore change with glass I have moved into working with coloured glass. This transformation is opening up a whole new level of material exploration and development. I’ve been looking at the transitions of colour and relating that transition to the moments we move through in our lives and the natural world around us. From becoming a mother, to returning to community, life has been full of change. Reflecting on the seasons and the cycles of life, I have realized that to counterbalance the darkness that surrounds us, we need more colour, beauty and inspiration in the world. I continue to evolve my work in this direction. Making colourful pleasing work that moves and lifts us up.
Have you ever had to pivot?
A pivotal point for me was 14 years into my artistic career I became a mother. This is an extremely consuming and transforming process. During the pregnancy it became difficult to work in the studio because of feeling unwell at times, than later after my daughter was born it was a balance between the studio, which wasn’t the best place for a small child and the home. Slowly going through the process of creating life. It is magical and awe inspiring but also an interesting balance between motherhood and the artistic desire to make. It can often feel like a tug of war.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
For me I feel there is a great importance to have creativity in our lives. I believe it is important to inspire and move people. Filling our day to day lives with creativity, fine craft and art. I also feel it is important to help people find their own creativity, passion and inspiration. Glass is a very magical and diverse material and it is wonderful to expose people to its artistic potential. I also feel that artists have a responsibility to continue to document life and communicate visually what we experience. Artists and art play a vital role in a healthy society.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tanyalyons.ca
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tanyamlyons
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanya.lyons3
Image Credits
Maureen MacMillan of Madawaska Media