Lydia Piper & Laurie DeVault: Bold and Beautiful

- Bold and Beautiful -

On Friday July 26th, Canyon Road Contemporary Art is proud to present Laurie DeVault and Lydia Piper, two artists whose bodies of work embrace deep and bold color. The show will run through August 4th, 2019.

Laurie DeVault is an accomplished abstract painter from Amherst, Massachussetts. Though she often has difficulty speaking about her work, she has had this to say about it: “I ‘see’ things that another observer may miss. Among the streaks, splotches, angles, and swirls I see buildings and trees, people and animals, mountains and birds, boats and planets. I simply coax them out from their hiding places... However, not all my paintings have anything resembling recognizable images, and those are works I find to be much more primal and raw, springing from a different emotional dimension than the paintings which may have a bit of whimsy… My work is often distinct and recognizable, but it is also quite varied. Different days bring forth different moods, and different moods give birth to a variety of creations. It is all a journey, unchartered and unbound, my favorite way to travel.” Laurie’s work ranges from whimsical to deeply emotional, always bolstered by rich, beautifully selected color palettes. The genius of her work lies in her ability to express her current emotional state through color and form.

Lydia Piper,a self-described “Air Force brat,” was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1958, and moved every few years until her family eventually settled in New Mexico. After living in Los Angeles for several years, she returned to Albuquerque in 1991 and began exploring her interest in art, which eventually led to her work in fused glass and stained glass mosaics. Piper acknowledges that producing the kind of glass art she does requires a lot of time and dedication, but manages to find the time between her full-time job and other commitments. “I always wanted to be an artist,” Piper said, “but sometimes life will take a person down a different path than the one envisioned when young. I enjoy my job and am able to incorporate a lot of creativity into the work I do. But I don’t know what the future holds, so I don’t want to wait until I retire to pursue my artistic passions.” Lydia’s vessels and wall hangings take the liquid colors of the interior rectangles and pulls them out into strictly arranged rods of color, juxtaposing order and chaos in a rich and compelling way. Her colors are inspired by and true to the New Mexican landscape, making her work both quintessentially New Mexican and thoroughly modern.