An Interview with Lyla and Madison Allison

Lyla Allison is a silversmith with a wide range of interests and abilities; In addition to her metalwork, she is a professional photographer with her business “Allison’s Albums,” and also works at the local art gallery Quicksilver. Madison, Lyla’s 17 year-old daughter, recently graduated from Eureka Springs High School and will begin her studies at Northwest Arkansas Community College in the fall. An artist herself, Madison works primarily with glass beads and sculptures.

ESSA has played a prominent role within both women’s lives. For Madison, her experiences at ESSA have developed into her love of glass. “I took printmaking here first,” she said. “Then, I took glass bead making [with Doug Powell], which evolved into a kind of obsession with glass. I ended up buying all of my own glass bead making equipment.” Subsequently, she persuaded Doug to bring his bead making equipment and expertise to the Eureka Springs High School to share this art form with other students. Madison’s enthusiasm at her school has been contagious as she influenced the ESHS Art Club to buy equipment, including a kiln, for this medium.

In 2008, Lyla assisted her own silversmithing teacher, Judy Lee Carpenter, in Carpenter’s Metalsmithing class. “Last year we had a group of 12 students. I was asked to assist in her class and absolutely loved it!” She told us. This experience launched Lyla’s career as an instructor. The following year, she was offered a position to teach a 3-day chain-fabrication workshop at ESSA. She accepted, and the class was an enormous success; the students loved her. She hopes to continue educating others in silversmithing as she secures additional teaching opportunities in Northwest Arkansas.

Lyla and Madison often combine their creative juices, sharing a studio and materials. They love the freedom that this collaboration allows, and the results of their experimentation are wonderful. For their most recent project, Madison made her own eye out of glass (pictured above). “Then I built a sterling silver frame of the eye with lashes,” Lyla explains. “It had two pin backs, one to pin it on and the other to slip the eyeball into.”

Madison contributes a lot of her artistic success to her parents. “They’ve never discouraged me,” she said, “and I know a lot of people aren’t that fortunate. ESSA gave me the starting point in my life and exposure. Also, because they gave me scholarships I was able to take those classes where I might not have been able to otherwise.” Family greatly helped Lyla in her development as an artist as well. “I had really artistic grandparents,” she said. “My grandmother would buy cases of the old little glass creamers and paint, personalize and sell them. She was also a quilter, painter, and opera singer. In the 70’s, my grandfather employed my aunts to work at his funnel cake shop. He would pay them an extra 50 cents an hour to wear plow boots with their pinafore dresses, because it drew attention! So creativity, in lots of different forms, was always around.”

“ESSA is great because it gives people the chance to try things… Sharing is the entire basis.” Lyla said. “[Art] feeds you from the inside… It’s important to your happiness, your wellbeing, whether you are the maker or the appreciator. We are happy to have ESSA, happy to be here teaching, learning, or both simultaneously!”

Interviewed and written by Clare McCormick, ESSA's 2009 intern.