Sylwia Avola

I am a painter of Polish origin. After my A3 baccalaureate (ceramics specialization) in Poland, I came to France to learn the French language and culture. It was in Lyon that I discovered the world of textiles, which led me to study at the School of Applied Arts.

After 11 years of experience in design offices in Lyon, as a designer of designs for clothing and furnishing fabrics, I felt the need to evolve towards a more personal work.

I also developed in parallel an activity of teaching plastic arts. I work with children of all ages (from kindergarten to high school) and with adults. Today, I divide my time between Fine Arts classes and my work as a painter.

Always inspired by nature, my favourite theme is landscape, which oscillates between figuration and abstraction. I’m not trying to reproduce a reality. What I see is a starting point for expressing an emotion, an atmosphere, a feeling. I am attracted by colours, by an overwhelming light or on the contrary by a nocturnal atmosphere. I paint in a spontaneous, fast way, in order to capture a moment. My painting mixes chance and mastery of gesture, materials and techniques. In the same painting I use both paint (liquid ink, thick acrylic) and drawing (chalk, markers).

I am particularly interested in trees, seen from afar or very close, straight or twisted, naked or filled with foliage in search of a particular atmosphere, a particular atmosphere according to the seasons or times of the day.