ARTIST TALK: Jessica Lily, Iris Eve Schaer, & Megan Williamson

Artist Talks provide an opportunity for artists to share their work and passions with the public, as well as offer insight into the exhibition as a whole. Be part of the conversation, express your thoughts and ideas, ask your burning questions, or simply sit back and enjoy the discussion. This is an opportunity to learn about the speaker’s artistic processes as well as their other projects!

For this Artist Talk, we will be led by three wonderful artists, Jessica Lily, Iris Eve Schaer, & Megan Williamson!

Former photographer Jessica Lily, knows first hand the healing power of arts influence on both the body and mind. After receiving a startling diagnosis, Lily set down her camera and picked up a brush. With a desire to paint her young daughter’s portrait at the forefront of her thoughts, Lily started watercolor painting. After that, she was hooked. Lily is now an art teacher in Atlanta, always ready for more students!

Fellow educator, Iris Eve Schaer, has chosen a more tactile medium to focus her energy on. By utilizing sculptural forms, Schaer explores ways to translate internal emotions into an abstract handmade reality through human anatomy. As she toes the line of repulsing even herself from her work, Schaer aims to take visceral and sometimes humorous, visages and turn them into visual therapy. The intuitive flow of creation had by Schaer won her 3rd place in this year’s Juried “All the Fixins” exhibit!

This final artist, Megan Williamson, also considers herself an instructor of the arts. In a similar vein to the other two women, Williamson hopes to draw in viewers who appreciate life and aren’t afraid to see themselves in her art. However, uniquely to the others, she takes inspiration from premade objects. While collecting vintage books, Williamson found a way to transform the literary artwork into her own Frankenstein-like wonder.