ELLEN STARR LYON: NESTING RITUALS
EXHIBITION DATES: September 29 – October 24, 2026
RECEPTION: Thursday, October 8, 5 – 8 PM
The Painting Center is pleased to present Nesting Rituals, a solo exhibition of oil paintings by artist Ellen Starr Lyon in the Project Room. The exhibition will run from September 29 through October 24, 2026, with an opening reception on Thursday, October 8, from 5 to 8 pm.
This exhibition continues Lyon’s exploration of life transitions with Nesting Rituals, as in previous coming-of-age portraits of her children. This body of work speaks to her current overlapping transitions of relocation to New York State from the Midwest and to what is known colloquially as an empty nester.
What began as an obvious metaphor of nests and eggs became an investigation of more universal themes of vulnerability, fragility, and the inherent strength in embracing both. The eggs began to symbolize the ideas we hold onto—potential that may never come to fruition. Lyon explores what it means to identify as a mother and how to welcome new identities. What restrictive narratives about ourselves do we cling to? Are we stopping at these crossroads to question them?
Lyon has long used self-portraiture to explore and portray her ever-changing roles of woman, wife, and mother; each a snapshot in time, a nod to ancient artistic practice, a path to acceptance. She continues her use of the self, creating visual journal entries of these emotional transitions. Included in Nesting Rituals are images of temporary spaces, portraits of her children, and select works from Lyon’s Altar series which speak to various aspects of nesting, of creating personal space, and collecting memories wherever one goes.
Lyon lives and works in Upstate New York. She earned a BFA in Painting and BA in Art History from Indiana University. Lyon has participated in shows nationally and internationally including: Being Human at The Painting Center, NYC (NY); Reflections of Us at Warner’s Contemporary, Brooklyn (NY); various group shows at Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati (OH); Converge at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia (PA); Pandemic at the Sol Art Gallery, Dublin (Ireland); FiKVA MiniARTures at WG Gallery, Dordrecht (The Netherlands); Delphian Gallery, London (UK), and CONTEXT Miami Art Fair at 33 Contemporary Gallery, Palm Beach (FL).
She has been published in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, Beautiful Bizarre, New Visionary magazine, and American Art magazine. Her paintings have been featured online on sites such as Hyperallergic, Bored Panda, and Buzzfeed. Lyon was invited to The Pouch Cove Artist Residency, Newfoundland, Canada, in 2024. She has work in the permanent collection of the Evansville Museum, University of California Irvine, Indiana University Bloomington, the Igleheart Foundation, and the Peregrine Collection of the Lunar Codex.
For more information about the artist, visit: www.ellenstarrlyon.com and @ellenstarrlyon.
