Amy Marino Lyons

Original Drawing, Brooklyn Arbor

13"x10.5"

pencil and ink

www.amymarino.com

Living in New York City for many years, I have witnessed the way a city changes visually, inevitably, with time. The backdrop of my life here features scenes that have shifted again and again. When I discovered the scrapbooks and writing of Eugene Armbruster (The Eastern District of Brooklyn, 1912) I felt the sense of finding a lost treasure. The work of this man spoke to me of the importance of creating time-capsules or recording the details of a place for posterity. Around the same time as that discovery, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. The way that both of these authors depicted this place with respect and honesty directly influences my own process to portray the neighborhoods.

I have an adoration for some of the buildings in my surrounding Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The texture and colors of older buildings and sidewalks have a charm that I can taste and am inspired to preserve on paper. These buildings are alive to me, as if the inhabitants have breathed a soul into the facade and front stoop of the home. What you see from the curb is personal, yet ephemeral, always changing through time as owners change. Currently I have an artistic process to "location scout" through current and historical scenes. The two projects I spend the most time on are a series of house and buildings paintings and a book about turn of the 19th century Williamsburg.

I hope you enjoy and that you'll reach out and let me know!

Amy