KIRSTEEN LYONS BA (HONS) CV

KIRSTEEN LYONS BA (HONS)

Recent Freelance:

Currently founding: Art Dreams Gallery. An online gallery bringing together the work of four professional artists to sell original paintings and some prints. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtDreamsGallery

2013 to present. Freelance as Enchanted Textile Design. Creating high quality design for a series of textile studioes in New York, London and Europe. Currently designing furnishing fabrics which are sold to clients throughout Europe. http://enchantedtextiledesign.blogspot.com

2006 to 2009 Started and ran Bagsythat pottery and Gallery in Tilgate Park, Crawley. A small pottery and Gallery providing handmade ceramics, teaching, painting and children's activities.

2008 to 2013 Started, ran and eventually sold Crawley Craft Fair. A vibrant community event and a viable small business. (I also advised on the founding of Crawley Book Fair.)

2008 to 2013 Started and ran Butterfly Facepainting. Butterfly Facepainting was a successful and creative Facepainting business with up to four facepainters freelancing under my management.

Competitions:

2001 First prize-winner of an industrial competition for Morton Yong & Borland. This was a prize for the best of Madras lace design and involved one week’s work placement gaining first-hand experience of designing Madras lace converting it into a suitable format for the computerised loom and seeing it woven. I was also involved in preparations for a trade fair the company were attending.

2001 Joint first prize-winner of an industrial competition for Muraspec, (a textile wall coverings design and manufacturer). The judges of this competition said I had won for the relevance and applicability of my response to the brief as well as the high standard of work, commenting “There are people out there making good livings with far inferior products”.

Qualifications:

1999-2002 BA (Hons) Textile Design 2(1). Involving; print, weave, knit, marketing, finance, management, coloration Technology, print technology, visual studies, professional practice, CAD and the design process. Also being entered into the Royal Society of Arts textile competition.

A level art, A level photography, Several GCSE's.

Work history:

2007 to 2008 teaching English as a second language at Greenfields English language school.

2006 Freelance Graphic design and fine art. Selling paintings online and at fairs.

2004-2005 Graphic Design and PR. Star Syringe. This involved web updates, Newsletters, brochures and press articles. During my time at Star Syringe I instigated many press articles including national radio interviews and national newspapers. I was also instrumental in winning several award for the Business including the Sussex Business awards and Best international Company at the Stivies. (International Bussiness awards baced in the US, This put us on US TV.) See www.starsyringe.com for more detail.

2003 Freelance Murals and wedding stationary.

2002 Associate, Product development. Muraspec. (Kent) This involved lending my textiles knowledge to the team, research, planning, lab work and CAD design for 3D weave.

1996-1999 Art and drama teacher at Greenfields school, (Sussex). In addition to teaching lessons this involved assisting with school plays, attending moderation meetings, parents’ evenings, planning lessons, keeping admin, supervision duties around the school, writing reports and communicating with parents about the progress their children made.

1996-2001 Theatre Design and production. (Sussex) I have designed and created; costumes, props, scenery and backdrops for several theatre productions as well as acting, coaching and directing.

1998-1999 Commissions to paint murals. (Sussex and Kent).

2001 Work placement with The Printed Stitch Studio Design Consultants. (Galashiels) During my time in Printed Stitch, I worked on two main design projects. The first was compiling ideas to employ textile art in a shopping mall in Edinburgh. I’d also worked on designing their new promotion mail and business card.

Volunteer Work:

2014 and 2015 Executive director of Saint Hill Arts Festival.

Vacation Work:

1997 Director of exhibitions for St Hill arts festival, (Sussex). This position involved receiving the artists and their work, acting as their hostess throughout the festival and seeing that the artwork was hung in a suitable space to the artist’s specifications.

1996 Director of the Children's Project for St Hill arts festival, (Sussex). This involved the advanced planning of a week’s activities in the arts for children of all ages, ordering relevant materials, and recruiting a voluntary staff to assist. In addition to these responsibilities, I personally delivered many of the activities.

1995 Summer school, (Sussex). Organising and delivering one week of art activities for 7 to 16 year-olds. Under the umbrella of the school where the summer school was taking place I was responsible for planning, ordering materials and delivering the activities.

Exhibitions:

1999 and 2000 Exhibitions of oil paintings with two other artists, (East Grinstead Art Centre).

2002 Exhibition at the Lighthouse Design Centre, (Glasgow).

2002 Degree show exhibition (Galashiels)

2002 New Designers, Islington exhibition centre (London)

2002 Now Gallery of contemporary art

2006 East Grinstead Arts Center

2007 East Grinstead Arts Center.

2008 Crawley Library Exhibition Space.

Other:

1992-1995 Wirral Youth Theatre member.

1993-1995 Wirral Youth Service Travel Panel rep. At monthly meetings myself and some other youth reps from the Liverpool area reviewed suggestions from the various youth groups in the district. Funding and assistance was allocated largely on our recommendations.

2000 Class rep. Textile Design, Heriot-Watt University.

2001-2002 Member of the Textile Design Society Heriot-Watt University.

2001 Photographic commission for hotel website, (Jedburgh).

Email for references:

kirsteenann@gmail.com

Adventures: Change of idea: I love driving my van and it works perfectly!

Adventures: Change of idea: I love driving my van and it works perfectly! It's easy and fun to drive and nothing is wrong with it...

I had a bit of an annoying two days. I feel a bit like Huck Finn after he touched a snake skin, although I don't really believe in bad luck. And I should add I have not found any dead blokes or silver dollars.

Yesterday someone scratched a word on my van and all down the sides too, but the lovely man next door got it off with some tcut. Then today I was driving Jasmine to her friends house when there was a massive bang and my driver side window smashed itself to tiny bits and showered glass all over me. I admit, I literally screamed! Like a stupid blond in a B Horror film. Then I pulled over, talked calmly to my daughter, brushed off the glass and drove my daughter to her destination, drove home and cried from delayed shock! So I guess I messed up when I told my friends, "can I stop driving now?" Please wish me lots of safe successful driving to fun places I intended to be! Thank you!

The window is all fixed now and it's looking better inside. I've been working.

In five days it's my birthday, I will be 41, and I'm ether "sleeping on my stepdad's floor at 41 with all my family and a total wash out in life" or  "shedding all the complexity and going after the truly worthwhile" depending on how you spin it and if I've had my coffee or not! You can make up your own mind. 😂🚐

Adventures: I made it to the supermarket, can I stop driving now please?

I have my new van. I love it. But it's proper terrifying to drive!! It's bigger than the last one and you can't see out the back at all! It beeps when you reverse, like a delivery van. It is 14 years old, half the age of my last two vans but it has some old van eccentricities. It rolls back on hills!!! All you drivers who drive a manual are going "so?" But it's an auto and they don't! You just sit there till you go. It's so unusual there is a warning sticker about it on the sun visor. It looks like a funny airplane safety card drawing, and when you slam the hand break on your two ton van in shock to prevent rendering two-dimensional any car that may, or may not be behind (who knows), you mentally go "0h! That's what that is supposed to mean!"

I drove it to the supermarket on Saturday morning then panicked! The car park was filling up by the minute, and I had left my 10 year old babysitting my 2 year old, what if they box me in and I NEVER get back to them? How can I possibly drive around the cost of Portugal if I panic in a supermarket car park? I only got half my list and left in disorder.

The van also leaks. I'm sure I can fix it but in the meantime it drips when it rains, exactly into a little cup holder on the dashboard! So you drive around with a tiny dash board pond! I'm thinking of adopting a tadpole. And it's developing a lake inside the left hand headlight unit, perhaps a little carp and some water lilies too. My brother says; drill a small hole and it will pee in the street!

It's also a huge project on a tiny budget. If we had lots of money for this (My husband is paying debs so we have lots of money for debt repayment, and not too much for anything else.) I still would not want to spend a lot converting a van worth about £3,500. So it's got to be done for a few £100 which means, I do it myself. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work for me. Easy if I was not also full time mum, homeschool teacher, and freelance textile designer. I always have my kids in tow, and I'm always behind on design. More of a textile non-designer to be honest at the moment. 

I'm so loving seeing my friends and family. It's so so good to be back where I get help, listened to, understood, hugs. We have had to be a unit of four and count on each other, good for us in some ways but exhausting. Everyone is seeing as much of our family as we can. I am a full time social secretary to my daughter! Although I don't want to drive her anywhere. Also the van still only has two seats. Right now only me and one other person can travel in it. Give me till September and I'll be ok, but for now I've lost my nerve. I just want to get someone else to drive for me. It probably doesn't help that the last time I drove anywhere was breaking down in a multi lane roundabout in France!

On the other hand I have not lost my nerve about worldschool. Why did I do worldschool? For my kids, but it's paying off and paying off for me. I have only made one trip so far but I've got the idea I can. I no longer own tons of stuff I don't use, I don't have a wardrobe full of clothes I never wear, I don't have a wardrobe! Or an iron, or scales, I don't know how heavy I am, I don't care, I own luggage scales instead! Much more exciting priorities!

I used to look at the worldschool community and think "Oh! My! I hope I could get organised enough, and brave to do that one day! Wow! Those people are in Bali learning local crafts, gosh! They are in India with elephants!" Now I find I look at it more like a menu! "We will have a double helping of Bali please with a plate of India on the side!" I would go lots of places with my kids. Why not? Lots of people do.

Goodbye Spain, hello squalor!

So nearly six months ago we set off in a classic Chevy to road trip around France, Spain and Portugal. It didn't go anything like the plan but it did go brilliantly! We set off too late in the year and were worried that ice and snow would make the driving dangerous and the living miserable, but two days in we broke down and were told the can was scrap. After expecting to go home a friend of mine offered me her flat in Spain for winter and we flew to Javea, via the train to Paris. Shipping the broken can home, three nights in hotels and flights to Spain were all covered by my Europe wide breakdown cover for £90 a year! It totally saved us and is my top road trip tip. Also my only road trip tip, as we didn't actually go on a road trip!

In the end the Chevy was not scrap. It needed an expensive repair and we sold it for £1,800 to a lady in rural France who is very happy with it.
So it was off to Javea. We had never seen the place, I hadn't been in Spain since I was 16. We promised to stay all winter and hoped we would get on ok! I think I knew I'd love it within 10 minutes of landing. Javea felt like we had walked off the edge of the world and got Spain to ourselves. It's filling up now. In the next three months its population goes up 10x! It's shops are all open and it's getting the feel of a busy holliday town. It has a different buzz like this.

We have learned a lot, we have relied on each-other, with no one else we know around. We have played on the beach till my kids are fed up with it! Who knew that was possible?? Now we are for home. First week in May.

We have bought a van to convert into a basic camper. As we are going to live in it while we do this we will be starting out with mattresses on the van floor - living in squalor! Hopefully we can start to turn it into a cosy home quite quickly.

We could of course sell the van, use it as the deposit on a flat and resume being responsible, normal grown ups. But I don't want to. I've got my heart set on coming back here next winter. I want to learn more Spanish, see more cities, see Portugal too. But I've learned from my late-in-the-year dash across France in an unusual van. We will leave in September, we will bypass France and take the ferry straight to Spain, we will make no promises to be anywhere specific but potter south at our own pace.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm also going to be able to solve all the problems of living in a van bit by bit in a familiar country, hopefully get a little tour of Scotland and see my dad, then by September we will be old hands at living in a van and I will be used to driving it. Then we can face the new country problems having solved the first set. It will be a more manageable adventure.

Though Javea is warming up for the season we are all willing and happy to wish her goodbye as we want to see our families and friends.

Here are what will hopefully be before pictures on a wonderful before and after project! Our new home!

Enchanted Textile Design - Kirsteen Lyons BA (Hons)

I am Kirsteen Lyons BA (Hons) and my textile design company is called Enchanted Textile Design.

I am a freelance textile designer for a design studio in Europe. I create original furnishing fabric and wallpaper design which my design house then sells to prestigious clients throughout Europe and further afield.

I have been creating art and design my whole life as a designer, writer, photographer and fine artist. I studied textile design at Heriot-Watt University and have worked both in-house and freelance as a designer for studios in Kent, London, New York and now Europe.

More textile design and design related content can be seen here:
enchantedtextiledesign.blogspot.com

enchantedtextiledesign.blogspot.com

Two years of drawing complete!

Two years of drawing. What has it done for me?

Ok, so I've cheated a bit here and there, getting behind and then doing several drawings to catch up but there is more than a drawing for every day. 731 days (one was a leap year) more than 731 drawings.

What has it done for me? Well, when I started out my son was very little. I was still in the early days - milky blur! It put some me time there. Some minutes out of each day of nappies, feeding, feeding, feeding, nappies, in which I was me, not just the baby's mum! It has made me happy, it has made me friends, I've received wonderful comments and messages from people who felt that it inspired them or helped them, this has made me feel worthwhile.

As an artist the practice has paid and paid and paid. It's been like a process where I shed all my demons. To begin with I was a quite pragmatic artist, also a designer, and not too prone to over self criticise, but I still started out editing drawings, not good enough? Don't share it, do another. Later I started sharing them with excuses, or explanations, later still I got involved in what people think, do they like it? How many likes can I get? What will people respond to? I went through that into a serene place where I literally DO NOT GIVE A FLYING SQUIRREL what anyone says or thinks of my art! If I like it, or even if I don't, and I know they are right, it's not my best work, I still don't feel diminished or introspective! So what? More art is on the way, it's not rare or precious, I don't need to be in a special mood to make it! I can bang it out every day and I've practised so much I know a good proportion of it is quality work. So all can hate it if they like, I'm impervious. It's a very safe place for an artist to work from.

But you haven't hated it, you have been amazing, many of you have complemented and encouraged me, helped me when I felt it was pointless and celebrated my good days with me. Many people have also joined in, drawing with me and playing the drawing a day game. #drawingadayclub. Thank you all you are wonderful.

With so much time, so many days to fill I've tried everything I fancied. It's not a commission, or a design I need to get paid for so I've just played! Doing things in new media, things I don't normally draw, things in odd colours... Played. I used to have this long reasoned speech I gave about why I couldn't draw people, "Portraiture is a specialised skill, those artists practice just that... On it went, guess what? I can draw people, I can draw anything! Obviously I still have things I like to do and things I'm best at, but no subject or media or style is impossible. I'm unafraid of drawing, there is no working up courage, and  picking my way, trying not to ruin it, heart in mouth. Drawing is an effort free zone! Easy, ok not always perfect  but easy and unconcerned.

It's been so nice to share. My design work is so secret. They make my design house sign a form that says it has not been shown around... I've worked so hard on building up all this design work and I can't show anyone. It was so liberating to show art to all my friends and be in a two way conversation with the viewer!

Ideas, beget ideas, there is no scarcely! I have found the more ideas I "use up" on my drawing a day, the more new ideas I have to make designs, or more drawing a days, use up your best ideas, they are the tip of your idea iceberg! Try it, it's true!

Discipline, oh! Discipline! It's been good discipline to draw everyday, sunstroke or sick kids, grief, happiness, period pains and boredom all transcended by art. Discipline is THE NUT TO CRACK if you want to get anywhere with art, I'm still working on that.  

The collection; I am not collecting any wealth, or power, nor am I about to cure cancer, so I'm not leaving the world or my kids anything very much in the way of a legacy, but I don't want my tomb stone to read "She kept up with the dishes and Netflix." Drawing every day has given me the feeling that I'm not entirely wasting my time. Here is all this work I did and some have enjoyed it.

The future; As I mentioned I have worked very hard to get signed with a great design house. I am going to set some targets on how much design I send them - so I won't be drawing every day next year.

I'm sure I won't be able to resist a bit of non work related art and when that happens, I will share it!

Thank you 731 times for all the support and feedback.

Love, Kirsteen

I've included a few I like from the last two years here: