Lyn Belisle Studio

art, life, mixed media

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What is "Mono no Aware"?

In my last post, I wrote about the question artists are often asked: “Is it archival?” Since then, I’ve been thinking about a Japanese phrase that offers another way of looking at value and permanence. The phrase is mono no aware (moh-noh noh ah-WAH-reh). It is often translated as “the pathos of things,” but that translation feels a little formal to me. I prefer to think of it as an awareness…

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Is It Archival?

I just returned from Colorado where I saw some wonderful art, like these ephemeral, powerful fiber art garments by Wendy Mike at the Auric Gallery that floated like magical gossamer armor. While I was walking, fascinated, through this amazing exhibition, I heard someone ask the gallery owner, “Is It Archival?” It’s one of the most common questions artists hear. The question usually arises when…

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The Myth of Originality?

Every Artwork Has Ancestors A Resident in the Enso Circle just today asked a thoughtful question while preparing work for our final catalog: “Is it okay to include a piece that began in one of your workshops?” The question stopped me for a moment—not because I doubted the answer, but because it touches on something many artists wonder about. If we learned a technique from a teacher, borrowed an…

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Gratitude for the Creative Life

I’ve been thinking lately about how extraordinary it is that so many of us continue to make art at all. Life does not exactly clear a path for creativity. Most artists I know are balancing family, caregiving, work, financial worries, aging parents, endless errands, world events, uncertainty, exhaustion — all the ordinary and extraordinary weights of being human. And yet somehow, in the middle of…

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What Kind of Vessel Would You Be?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about vessels not as objects that speak, but as objects that listen. That idea is the basis of my upcoming workshop, The Listening Vessel, which will be released later this month as part of the Objects of Devotion series. I’m right in the middle of filming it. And as usual, there are lots of surprises and revelations. So with all that on my mind, I asked our recent Enso…

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Does Everything Feels Too Precious to Use?

The Keeper of Fragments by Chaska Peacock. She wrote, “Oh, and I wanted to tell you about the stars.  15 or so years ago I met with a shaman while in Peru. He named me “Chaska” which means “star” in the Quetchan language.which is still spoken in Peru by the elders.  I felt intimidated, but gradually rose to the name.” Conversations about The Keeper of Fragments, the first workshop in the Objects…

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When the Work Feels True

Objects of Devotion and the Joy of Making Yesterday, I received a note from a student in The Keeper of Fragments workshop. She wrote not to complete an assignment, but because something had shifted for her—and she wanted to share it. She said this: “Instead of asking is this good, ask is this true?This really spoke to me… it stopped me in my tracks.” That moment is at the heart of what I’ve…

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The Keeper of Fragments

The First OBJECTS OF DEVOTION Workshop Is Now Available I’m so pleased to share that the first workshop in my new online series, Objects of Devotion, is now available on my Teachable studio classroom site.  It’s called The Keeper of Fragments—and in many ways, it feels like a beginning that has been silently forming for years. Here is the link. If you’ve followed my work over time, you may…

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Objects of Devotion

. . . a new series of monthly workshops inspired by Encantos and the quiet, meaningful objects that shape a creative life After writing about stepping back from Painting with Fire, I found myself reflecting on the arc of my own work—what has remained constant over the years, even as materials and methods have shifted. But it was during my recent exhibition, Encantos, that something became…

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Three Minutes of Courage

The other afternoon, I stood in Gallery Prudencia surrounded by artwork by other artists I deeply admire. What a delight to be in this show with them! The show is called Piecework, a fitting title for a collection of collages, each one built from fragments, intuition, and time. The artists in the room? Extraordinary. The kind of artists (and friends) who make you pause… and then quietly wonder…

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Listening for What Comes Next

(On stepping back from something good to make space for something new) The other day, I received a note from a student that touched me deeply: “You’ve been one of my favorites in Painting With Fire, and I was disappointed not to see your name in the lineup this time. I’ve made several pieces based on your inspiration and really love them.” I sat with that for a while. There is no greater gift…

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Influencer or Inspirer?

Influencers and Inspirers: Two Very Different Currents Imaginary influencer 🙂 The other day, I was looking through some recent posts online—just checking in, as we all do from time to time. I was thinking once again about “influencers,” since I’d just finished a book called The Inheritance in which one of the main characters describes herself a “professional influencer.” I saw intriguing work in…

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Building a Portrait

An Encaustic Collage of Sam Takeuchi One of the most delightful things that came out of our recent “Encantos” exhibit at the  Taos Ceramic Center was a commission request. Sam Takeuchi, architect and artist from Santa Fe, requested that I create a portrait of him in the same style as the Santo Niño collages in the exhibition (below). Talk about an intimidating request! Sam is a master of so much…

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A Story for Women's History Month

If you’ve traveled along with me on my artist journey for a while, you know about my fascination with images of human faces. I return again and again to the Library of Congress and Flickr Commons to examine the expressions of people who lived ordinary and extraordinary lives, whose faces were captured in the moment with tintype photographs and sepia processes. If a face is particularly striking,…

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Collage as Conversation

Can these images be part of a conversation with each other? I am so excited to be part of the upcoming Piecework collage exhibition at Gallery Prudencia. The generous response to my collage work in the Taos exhibition reminded me how deeply people connect to layered imagery — how instinctively they lean in when fragments suggest a story without fully explaining it. That experience nudged me back…

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From Studio to Printed Page: The Vessel Alchemy Catalog

The space inside the vesselis not absence —it is invitation. I am genuinely delighted to share this catalog of my students’ work from last week’s Vessel Alchemy workshops. Each time I teach, I am reminded that learning moves in both directions. My students bring courage, curiosity, humor, tenderness, and insight to the table — and I leave each session changed by what they discover. What follows…

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The Language of Holding: Student Work from the Workshop

This is Part One of a two-part reflection on our weekend workshop,  Vessel Alchemy: Tactile Poems in Fiber, Paper, Word, Light. Next week, I’ll share more vessels — and more of the words they are quietly holding. This past weekend weekend, as I walked around the Droste Studio at UTSA/SW watching the students work, I found myself truly astonished. Not just at the craftsmanship — though there was…

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