A local artist from Penwortham is celebrating after completing her Masters in Fine Art whilst catching the attention of some high-profile clients with her uplifting, vibrant artwork.
Shiryn Wynter’s larger-than-life pieces draw the viewer in, painted in portrait, rather than landscape, she creates imaginary worlds inspired by her early morning walks to flower-filled gardens, meadows and parks and memories of safe, happy places from her childhood.
“I am a morning person and love the fresh, new dewy atmosphere of a brand-new day. My work is inspired by that feeling. Starting again, putting yesterday behind you. A fresh start,” said Shiryn.
Shiryn enjoys the tranquillity of early morning walks when nobody else is around. The artist uses these quiet times amongst nature to inspire her work, stopping to take photographs, but later discarding parts of the image, using only a small part to inform her work. Occasionally she stops walking using chalk pastels to create sketches of her surroundings, considering the colours and composition, using these sketches as sources of inspiration as she goes on to work intuitively, changing and adapting her work as she goes. She creates her large-scale paintings by layering oil and spray paint, charcoal, inks, and turps.
“I like to think by looking at my work you get the sense of another world. A portal to escape into when everyday life is too much,” said Shiryn. “When I paint, I escape, I am in my own world and I want the audience to be able to experience that feeling when they look at my work.”
Shiryn has spent most of her career in education, using art to help children with behavioural difficulties express themselves, as well as running after school and holiday art sessions for children. After accompanying her son to his interview for an undergraduate Fine Art course at UCLan, Shiryn decided to take the brave step to leave full-time work to return to university, going on to complete a BA Hons in Fine Art and this year a Masters in Fine Art.
Before the pandemic, Shiryn and her son Shailan, were in conversation with local shopping centres about using empty shop windows to display their artwork. Keen to engage audiences who wouldn’t normally visit a gallery, they had planned to display their artwork in shop windows. In October 2020, they took that idea one step further and opened a doorstep gallery in St George’s Shopping Centre, selling their work and the work of other artists as well as engaging the public in conversation about art.
“I am interested in exploring a possible link between mental health and the experience of reaching out to the public through art,” said Shiryn.
Indeed, the artist has researched the effect her artwork had on people’s mood whilst running her gallery. Over a six-month period, Shiryn discovered that a high percentage of people visiting the space felt that their mood had improved, with many reporting that they felt transported into another world whilst viewing her paintings. The artist feels that art has become particularly important in the aftermath of long periods of lockdown. As a response to the pandemic, Shiryn created an online project inviting local people to send views from their homes or daily walks during the lockdown which she then created into pieces of abstract art, to inspire people to feel a certain way.
It was throughout the pandemic that Shiryn’s work reached one of its biggest audiences via television. The artist was surprised to discover that one of her beautiful, bright paintings was hung on display behind Dr Nighat Arif, who is the GP on BBC Breakfast and ITV’s This Morning. The artist was delighted to find out after the GP kindly shared her work on social media.
Read more: Why this Penwortham artist’s work is appearing on BBC and ITV most mornings
Shiryn has since gone on to create special commissions for BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker and Atomic Kitten’s Kerry Katona.
“I was so pleased that Dr Nighat Arif displayed my painting on TV and her social media feed,” said Shiryn. “She is friends with Dan Walker who then commissioned me to create a piece for his home. Dan Walker very kindly then put the painting on his social media and recommended my work which was amazing!”
“I am now in the middle of a very exciting, huge piece for Kerry Katona to go in her beautiful new home which I can’t wait to show everyone. Katie Piper has also messaged me to say she thinks my work is beautiful! It’s incredibly rewarding to receive these commissions from people who could potentially have their pick of any artists’ work and chose my pieces.”
Moving forward, Shiryn is planning to keep engaging people with art in a positive way. She begins a teaching placement at Blackburn College in October, studying for a PGCE in Art and has an exhibition lined up at The Larder on Lancaster Road in the autumn.
You can view Shiryn’s immersive paintings at the UCLan Master of Arts Degree Show, University of Central Lancashire. The show is open to the public until Tuesday 5 October (weekdays only) between 10am and 5pm.
An exhibition of Shiryn Wynter’s paintings will open at The Larder from Saturday 23 October when the artist will be hosting a ‘Meet the Artist’ event between 2pm – 4pm. The exhibition will run until Saturday 4 December. The Larder is currently open each Monday and Thursday from 10am to 3pm, and every fourth Saturday from 11am to 1pm.
Discover more of Shiryn Wynter’s work on Facebook, Instagram and on her website.
If you are interested in buying a piece of Shiryn’s artwork or commissioning her, the artist can be contacted via WhatsApp 07903522979.