Lylanne Musselman is an award winning visual artist and poet, who paints a lot of birds, nature, self portraits, and other figures.
Q1: What is your earliest memory of interacting with nature?
Nature has always been a big part of my life, and my earliest memories are of seeing the butterflies landing on the “pretty flowers” in my grandma’s garden. She also gave me the gift of my love of birds. I was so proud when I could identify a black-capped chickadee or a tufted titmouse at her feeders. I must’ve been around 5 or 6 years old.
Q2: How does the natural world influence your work as an artist?
I find peace by going into the parks or by just stepping outside into my yard filled with birdfeeders and flowers. I feel there’s nothing more calming than birdsong. I always have a daybook/sketchbook with me when I’m outdoors and I jot down feelings, birds and wildlife sighted, and then incorporate some of that in my poems or visual art. I’ve recently found the joy of Plein Air painting...painting outside in nature, and I look forward to seeing how that aspect affects my work.
Q3: What role do you think artists have in helping to promote or protect nature and the environment?
As an artist I feel it’s not only great to paint the beauty of nature, but to bring attention to the perils of what is happening all around us with the recent environmental rules being rolled back by the current administration. Sometimes we get so caught up with our own lives that when we see some unsettling art it brings awareness that we might not have given much thought about. Or maybe you see a painting of bees or butterflies and think: hey, I haven’t seen many of those this year! You might seek out why that is.
Q4: What message do you hope people take with them from your piece(s) in the Human/Nature exhibition?
It’s no surprise that both of my pieces involve birds. “Sharing Secrets” is a self-portrait with a raven. It’s an imagining of how we should aspire to cohabitate and share our lives with other species. My piece, “Raven Hot,” I hope gives viewers a feeling of how climate change, and extreme heat, is going to be catastrophic. Both ravens are from sketches/photos that I took while visiting AZ earlier this year.
Lylanne's work Sharing Secrets and Raven Hot are showing at the Human/Nature exhibition. More information on the exhibition can be found here.
Lylanne also has her poetry featured in our Human/Nature chapbook.