Oakwood painter’s whimsical style earning praise

Artist Lydia Beyer is a fan of children’s art.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Lydia Beyer in her studio/laundry room.

ENLARGE PHOTO

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO "Ruby's Pillbox Hat" 42"by 30" mixed media on birch. By Lydia Beyer.

Ohio’s abundance of water parks makes it easy to melt away your cares
5/25/12
Taste of Cincinnati expected to draw 500,000 people
5/24/12
How discount program is helping arts, patrons
5/22/12
Local ingredients key for bartender
5/16/12
Health clubs giving lifestyle campaign a rigorous workout
5/16/12
> More headlines

By Pamela Dillon, Contributing Writer 11:09 AM Sunday, October 9, 2011

When Lydia Beyer was a child growing up in Cincinnati, she spent countless hours sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by crayons, watercolors and piles of paper.

After she married and had a house of her own, she spent countless hours changing the colors of every square foot of wall space.

“I’m still changing wall colors in my house way more than I should. The folks at Sherwin Williams know my name; it’s a little embarrassing,” said Beyer, who lives in Oakwood with her husband Jim and children Hank, Will, Jack and Lydia. “After driving my family crazy by constantly changing the wall colors in my home, I decided to try painting on a much smaller scale.”

That was seven years ago. When a local decorator saw one of her whimsical paintings, she commissioned Beyer to create a painting for one of her clients. That was all the encouragement she needed to do more creating in her laundry room studio. Only now, she wasn’t using gallon paint cans.

“My mom always made me feel like the things I was creating were beautiful and important. They always earned a spot on the refrigerator,” Beyer said.

She recently found out that she’s earned a spot somewhere else just a bit more prestigious — the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. And it’s not just any old spot: She will be the 2012 featured artist. It’s the highest award given out to the exhibiting artists every year. Not only that, but 2011 was the first year that Beyer has even shown her works at the fair.

The 52nd year of the Street Art Fair took place in Michigan this past July 20-23. The awards are announced on the second morning at the artists’ breakfast. Ten awards are presented for excellence and originality, and then the next year’s featured artist is announced.

“My husband and I were sitting at a table eating and talking with other artists when they were announcing the award winners. I never dreamt they would call my name,” Beyer said. “When they said my name I had to ask my husband if they really just said my name. He nodded his head, and gave me a little push to get up out of my seat to accept my award. I was completely shocked and honored, and probably shed a few tears.”

The Street Art Fair has a strict, two-tiered jurying process. Only about 175 artists are chosen to participate. This particular art festival was named the Number One Art Fair in the country by an October 2004 American Style magazine readers’ survey.

As the featured artist, she gets to design the marketing poster and some merchandise for next year’s fair. It will be unveiled next spring.

“I haven’t decided on my design, but I’m thinking I will incorporate a bicycle somehow,” Beyer said.

That’s an excellent idea. One of my favorite Beyer works is a 42 inch by 42 inch mixed-media on panel titled “Joy Ride.” I would call it abstract realism, because it’s a clever mix of identifiable objects rendered in a whimsical way. She is inspired by children’s art and her shapes are simple, but the colors, patterns and textures she uses show her artistic maturity.

“I am a big fan of anything made by a kid because their creations are usually so pure and fearless,” Beyer said.

Her website, www.juliebeyer.com, indicates that she is inspired by the beauty in everyday life. Besides bicycles, frequent subjects are birds, flowers and children’s faces. Her obsessions are “color, texture, patterns, old photos, kid art, vintage maps and random stuff.”

Her favorite piece is titled, “Lydia Brings Flowers,” and commemorates one summer when her daughter picked fresh flowers, and excitedly ran through the back door to present her “bouquets.”

“(Local artist) MB Hopkins owns it, and I want it back,” Beyer joked.

Justin Teilhet, a clay artist from Yellow Springs, was the only other local artist also juried into the 2010 Street Art Fair.

Beyer earned a bachelor of science in elementary education degree from the University of Cincinnati. Before moving to Dayton, she taught first grade in McLean, Va., and worked at the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington D.C. She has exhibited at the Dayton Visual Arts Center, and The Fitton Center for Creative Arts. She also presented works at Meadowlark Restaurant last year.

“My friend Kevin Tunstall, a local artist, encouraged me to apply to some art fairs this year. I decided to give it a try and was so honored to be accepted to the Ann Arbor Street Fair because it is very selective,” Beyer said.

Contact contributing  writer Pamela Dillon at pamdillon@woh.rr.com.

Share this article