Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High around 60F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low near 45F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
An embroidery, made by Lyons inspired by her daughter's garden. This sampler design, amongst many others, is available on Lyon's Etsy for purchase.
Charlottle Lyons, of House Wren Studio, with a fabric she designed from a collage of personal items.
A dollhouse made by Lyons with intricately handcrafted miniature pieces of furniture -- the green armoir is made from a vanilla extract cardboard box.
A felt and needlework illustration of the Park McCullough House, by the artist Charlotte Lyons of Wren House Studio.
"Between Friends" and "Mothers and Daughters at Home" by Charlotte Lyons.
Fabric designed by Charlotte Lyons of House Wren Studio from a collage of personal items. She emphatically declares, "I love buttons!"
Artist and maker Charlottle Lyons shows a bathrobe that she keeps adding quilted pieces onto, "I turned it into a jacket that I can wear out of the house and just started patching in little pieces of quilt. It's an ongoing project. When I run out of something I can stitch, I can just start stitching on my clothes."
The artist's rendition of herself (left) and three daughters.
An embroidery, made by Lyons inspired by her daughter's garden. This sampler design, amongst many others, is available on Lyon's Etsy for purchase.
A dollhouse made by Lyons with intricately handcrafted miniature pieces of furniture -- the green armoir is made from a vanilla extract cardboard box.
"Between Friends" and "Mothers and Daughters at Home" by Charlotte Lyons.
Fabric designed by Charlotte Lyons of House Wren Studio from a collage of personal items. She emphatically declares, "I love buttons!"
Artist and maker Charlottle Lyons shows a bathrobe that she keeps adding quilted pieces onto, "I turned it into a jacket that I can wear out of the house and just started patching in little pieces of quilt. It's an ongoing project. When I run out of something I can stitch, I can just start stitching on my clothes."
NORTH BENNINGTON — Charlotte Lyons is an artist, embroiderer, teacher, author, mother and self-proclaimed homebody. If you lived in her house, House Wren Studio, a treasure trove of creations, you might also never want to leave.
“No minimalism here, we are all about ‘the cozy,'” Lyons says.
Many mediums harmonize in bright patterns and bold colors to fill the walls and rooms of the house, both her domestic sphere and creative playground. Lyons doesn’t limit herself to one format or method. She stitches with thread and fabric, repurposes furniture and clothes, and even taught herself how to use power tools to make small pieces of household items, like a napkin holder.
Charlottle Lyons, of House Wren Studio, with a fabric she designed from a collage of personal items.
In one corner of her dining room there is a chair, which doubles as a piece of artwork and is forever preserved in one of the books she wrote. A $5 chair she got at a tag sale that was painted gold, perhaps for a banquet, she added decoupage images and hand-painted on it an entire recipe for an apple cheesecake.
“When I make that [recipe], I drag this into the kitchen.”
In addition to being an artist, Lyons is also a teacher and has facilitated craft retreats and workshops all over the country.
“I started a blog and Etsy shop in 2006 and all of a sudden people found me.” At about the same time, Lyons was invited to teach at Silver Bellow, an annual craft retreat in Omaha, Nebraska, attended by hundreds of people.
She continues, “I met this whole group of professional art women, which was so exciting and wonderful to be a part of — and still is.”
Like many artists, Lyons worked a number of jobs before settling into her career as a full-time maker — after college, she was an eighth-grade English teacher and more recently, worked at Trader Joe’s as a sign painter for three years, noting it was the hardest job she’s ever had.
What has remained consistent in Lyon’s life is her desire to be rooted in a community of other makers, specifically other women.
Lyons says she is inspired and encouraged by her friend and artist Mary Engelbreit. The two have co-authored a series of books together.
“We’ve been friends for over 40 years. We both lived in St. Louis and worked in a little neighborhood craft shop as very young women and met there.”
Lyons continues, “When I went over to her house I was like ‘Whoa, I didn’t even know you could do this to your house, you can paint wherever you want?' It’s just as magical as you can imagine.”
A mother of three women, she fostered connection through creativity with her own children from a young age, eventually writing a book on the subject, "Mothers and Daughters at Home" (Simon & Schuster, 2000).
The artist's rendition of herself (left) and three daughters.
“I found that with my children, that making things with them was a wonderful way to inspire each other and find common ground. Sometimes talk about things that are hard to talk about; sometimes if you are busy with your hands you don’t have to look at each other.”
Her daughters are grown and all have carried their creativity into adulthood, as a writer/painter, interior designer and graphic designer.
“I moved a number of times, when my children were little, and each time I found a group of women that were makers. I settled in and I had my own friends and friends for my children. And it meant a lot to me [...] I learned so much.”
A felt and needlework illustration of the Park McCullough House, by the artist Charlotte Lyons of Wren House Studio.
After moving to Vermont six years ago, Lyons recently bought the house she’s been renting and hopes to stay rooted.
“The thing I love about living here is there’s a variety of passions that people pursue, they’re really in it and they share it. Our friends who are farmers and artisans and makers — it’s exciting to see them at work with so much energy.”
Lyons recently moved here from New York. She says that people around her were also making art, but much more privately, “It’s much more complicated to find your circle there.”
“The other thing I love about being in Vermont is [...] being connected to the college.”
A Bennington College student designed her website and another student helped her to learn videography to compose her online stitching workshops.
Lyons workshops used to be in person, but due to COVID, she’s taken to teaching remotely. “There are a lot of people who miss having a community of makers, so I provide that.”
“I love teaching and I love the relationship between teacher and maker when it’s someone who is a peer. It’s been really nice to meet all these wonderful women and learn how to share what I know.”
In addition to creating the video tutorials for her workshops, she also assembles kits of materials with packs of threads and fabrics which are sent to the participants. Her current workshop program is a series of seasonal stitch books.
Anyone can sign up for a workshop on her website, housewrenstudio.com, or purchase a sampler design to embroider on her Etsy Shop, etsy.com/shop/charlottelyons.
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