Lynsey, you are showcasing your artwork in affiliation with the Telluride Film Festival next weekend. Have you displayed your work for events like this before?
Yes, I designed the poster and all the promotional items for the Jackson Hole Film festival in the past as well as displaying my work. It’s fun to work with film festivals because they attract incredible people.
The celebration of the indomitable spirit is central to the Telluride Film Festival. How would you say that your art reflects the spirit of utter perseverance?
Wow, that’s deep! I would say that everything behind my work is a reflection of finding the light in what you are doing, whether that is at the top of a mountain or sitting in your car in traffic. I look for meaning, but more for fun. Nature has a pretty good sense of humor if you look at it that way. I think one way of persevering is not to take things too seriously and lighten up. Though it’s not often easy, those ideals are what I strive for in life so I’m sure they show up in my work. I choose to see bright colors and create magical moments. Though I might not be able to truly fly in this reality, anything is possible in art!
Do you feel that your careers, as both an athlete and artist, are in open dialogue with one another?
I hope so; they both succeed with the same structures. At some point, my brain turns off and somehow things just start to click. With art, it’s often at three in the morning after creating a lot of crap or in skiing, when I’m having fun with my friends and I trust myself enough not to think too much. They both are an expression and an outlet for something bigger than myself.
Many of your illustrations featured on your site, butteryellow.com, are colorful, graphic designs that portray nature in a new light. What is your overall aim in combining the opposite forces of technology and nature within your works?
Technology is just another tool to create something new, like a paintbrush or an editing studio. Nature will always be the inspiration and the tools to express it should always be diverse. Any tool can be a crutch if you start to depend on it alone. I think true creativity is being able to use whatever’s around to get it done (You know, Mageiver style!). I started drawing into my computer only because I was traveling so much for skiing and away from the studio. Honestly, it was the only way I graduated. The greatest thing about creativity is that it pushes you to make something out of nothing. How else do you think humans thought to strap two planks to their feet and send it down a mountain?
In the future, how do you hope to grow as an artist?
I hope I laugh more. I’m ready to get my hands dirty again like in kindergarten finger-painting and not worrying if it will look cool. Ideally I will have a studio with ALL the tools to get messy! i.e.; printmaking tools, paints, inks, rollers, chemicals to do etchings, different printing material, a dark room etc. I’ve already started taking my prints and adding more layers of paint or other materials to give them more dimension, so that’s fun. As a person, I aspire to be the people in my work: happy, light, connected, with skills we don’t think are possible, and to be able to share them with my friends.
On a different note, how was your ski season this year?
It was awesome! I skied a ton, traveled a ton, learned a lot, and stayed alive so that’s always a plus!
