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.JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to
LYNNE RYALL: I am working on paintings for upcoming shows at the Pelham Arts Festival and the Kingston Artsfest. The Pelham Art Festival theme is on the environment and since I am a landscape painter it is a natural fit for my work. I am also involved in the Cotton Factory’s “Roar Show” that happens on March 7. In this show I will be showing off my art and also performing with my fiddle group (I play guitar and sing) for “Raspberries Pickles and Ham.” They are a Hamilton group formed out of the Dundas Valley Orchestra. We play for many retirement, and long-term care homes as well as hospitals. I am also a viola player for the Dundas Valley Orchestra and the Della Sera Strings, both amateur community orchestras that play community concerts. I also teach after school art classes at two Hamilton elementary schools. Finally, I do digital archiving and work with photoshop for the Royal Botanical gardens.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
LR: I think as an artist I have become much more focused on creating paintings with a common message about the natural world which I perceive when I am out in it. I try to convey light and colour as perceptual moments in time. I think I am both more prolific, solidified in style and more professional in my presentation. Since I have taken up studio space at the Cotton Factory, I have become much more aware of what it takes to participate in the Ontario commercial art market and what it takes to put on shows for the public. As for the music, as I do so much of it, I have become aware of how much work it takes to be a proficient musician that performs in public. I have widened my musical repertoire and taste in music.
I am a much more disciplined person now in my practice of the arts than I was, because I
now really know how much work it takes to become accomplished in two areas. I think my
two practices have enriched my teaching expertise as well. I have also become aware of
how much the Hamilton community has to offer in terms of the arts. I was originally from
Toronto and had no idea of what was going on in Hamilton, when I first came here.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
LR: In my art, my very spiritual love of nature is completely infused in my need to paint. I have had this need my entire life, but as I have aged, it has become an even more intense pursuit. I strongly believe that if people are not exposed to nature from an early age, they will not gain an appreciation for it and as such, will not feel the strong need to protect and preserve it. This I feel is more necessary now that climate change is upon us and the lessening of biodiversity and natural habit is occurring more rapidly. I think I try to transport people into my work so that they will cherish outdoor locations such as provincial parks and landmarks even more.
Music is a universal language of love and I relish participating in that. It makes me feel more whole when I can perform something, especially with a group. I have a real love for community groups working together. In music you have to listen to other people in order to perform well and it teaches people the necessity of co-operation. Music was the first community involvement I had when I moved to Hamilton and it means a lot to be part of it. I have made a number of Hamilton friends because of musical participation.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person
LR: I tend to move too fast and become impatient relying too much on my artistic instincts and musical memory. My biggest challenge has been to slow down and not try to do too much at one time on a project or learn a piece of music in one shot. I have had to begin to focus much more on a working process that requires patient stages of completion. I also battle between the priorities between music and art. Art is more of my priority, but I have trouble saying no to all the musical endeavours I get involved with to make more time for my art.
JS. Name a point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist
LR: Moving to Hamilton in 2010! It opened me up to community orchestras and joining the Cotton Factory in 2017, when I retired from teaching, made producing art the main focus of my new life and I am grateful for the transition.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
LR: Creating does not have a lot to do with talent or gift but with a disciplined approach to working on your craft (the old 10000 hours thing). You will make a lot of awful stuff before you start making work or music that is reasonably good. I always liked to tell my students to not get too attached to their work because they wouldn’t like it in a few years. I also told them to paint for the garbage! It is also extremely difficult for an artist to make any real money in the arts unless they learn how to brand themselves, use social media and get really established with several galleries, and enter art show competitions. It takes a long time and half the work of an artist is the paperwork of applying for shows and responding to social media feeds, getting work framed and labelled and setting up properly for shows. Doing the art is only half the battle. If you are creating work for a commercial market you are running a small business and that is a whole different skill set.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
LR: I haven’t done a lot of conceptual work in visual arts because I am still so caught up with capturing my love of nature. Perhaps I will go more abstract as time goes on or do more metaphorical work but for now, I am totally in love with what I am doing.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
LR: I always wanted to write a book, produce a film or act- maybe I will do so some day. Right now, I am too busy.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
LR: The arts have expanded with the global fusion of international influences on cultural
styles. That is a good thing. To paraphrase the work of Wade Davis on culture- we have a lot to learn from the multitude of cultural entities that inhabit our world and art creation is no exception. I don’t think individual cultures have a monopoly on one style of art so I am not a big fan of the term cultural appropriation. Artists constantly borrow stylistic ideas from each other and that is how art evolves. I am against complete copying and copyright infringement, but not artistic inspiration from other artists. I also do worry that the arts are still seen as fringe optional subjects in education and that narrow-minded politicians and chairs of education do not see it as an integral part of developing as a whole educated person. Numerous studies indicate that students who have had an extensive arts education do better academically and socially. It is no secret that the arts stimulate the economy.
Artists are the first to transform an urban area into a vibrant and lucrative location. I get depressed when the arts are not valued as an integral part of societal development on the part of government. It always seems to be the first thing cut when there is an economic crisis. Finally, I believe because artists are divergent thinkers, they are extremely valuable
in terms of creating unique and strong solutions to really difficult world problems. Bruce
Mau, the famous designer is a big promoter of the value of the artist in coming up with
unique solutions for society. In today’s increasingly polarized and entrenched political
world, we need this kind of skill set even more urgently.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
LR: I love creating a wonderful mix of colour and light in my work. I think colour schemes and reflected light are the real strengths of my work and a spiritual impression or feeling for the viewer which transports them into the piece.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
LR: I think artists’ friends and family members have encouraged me to simplify and focus
my composition in their comments about individual pieces. Every time I do that, my
work gets better.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you.
LR: I don’t know if there is anything particularly intriguing. Perhaps one thing is that I
have the soul of an introvert in creating art about nature. I am also a relentless
daydreamer. However despite my love of untouched natural settings, I also love and am
inspired by being around other people. I am mostly an extrovert, socially. It is probably
no surprise that I tend to befriend a lot of introverts who share my love for the solace of
nature. I also still really love teaching, so perhaps that feeds the extroverted side in me.