Today we’d like to introduce you to Harlyn Steele.
Hi Harlyn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have always been a creative, imaginative person. As a kid, I was quite shy and awkward and kept to myself. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized I was on the spectrum and I had synesthesia. All I knew at the time was that I wasn’t like everyone else which made it so hard to fit in anywhere. This gave me a lot of motivation and time to teach myself embroidery and to draw. As I got older, I continued to learn new crafts and started dabbling in painting but I didn’t consider making it a career until later in life. Instead, I got a management job and then eventually got married and became a full-time mom. After my second child, I became severely ill and could no longer work a nine to five job. I was diagnosed with several conditions and it prevented me from living a normal life. I did my best to raise my family and continued my artistic pursuits to cope with life. Once my youngest graduated from High School, although still ill, I began to devote myself to seriously studying art and started drawing or painting every weekday. I took a lot of online classes and practiced every medium I could get. I practiced a lot of different styles of art trying to find my voice. I fell in love with acrylic and oil pastel as my primary mediums. However, I have a secret love affair with watercolor. I try to incorporate my experiences with synesthesia in as much of my art as possible to give the viewer a glimpse inside my world. I devote all my time to art and to knitting. If art is my therapy, knitting is my Zen. I have Fibromyalgia and Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency as well as something called Dercums Disease. As a result, I am in constant pain and spend a lot of time convalescing. Art and knitting keep me sane and help me feel like a productive member of society. I guess that is why I pursue it with such passion. It brings meaning and purpose to my life and gives a voice to my neurodivergent brain.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think a big struggle has been believing in myself. Having not been to a traditional school of art, and starting out late in life, it took a long time to build up some confidence and to believe I could pursue art as a career. But, I have worked hard at it, learning and practicing new skills and mediums and studying different genres and artists and I have tried to just flow with it as it comes. However, I would say the biggest struggle is getting out in front of people. I still struggle with social anxiety and getting out in front of the public and laying my psyche bare is terrifying. I try to lean on my family for encouragement and honestly, without that, my art would probably never leave my living room. I console myself with the idea that it will get easier as I face my fear and in all honesty, it has gotten easier.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My art is primarily influenced by Synesthesia. This condition can be summed up by saying one sense triggers a secondary sensory response. For me, hearing words or music produces mental images or movies. I see everything I hear. Visually, light affects me differently. It is more intense and the color is more saturated and I also feel light and color in my body. This impacts how I experience the world on a daily basis and although there are times when it is very overwhelming, I consider it to be a gift.
I express this experience to the viewer in various ways but color and saturation play a major role. It also affects how paint is applied to canvas or paper. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it’s fuzzy, other times it is violent and impasto. It depends on the experience for me.
Due to this phenomenon, I have always been fascinated with light as it relates and reacts with water from the pavement or body of water. It has become an obsession. My Life has been rather dark and so I think I am fascinated by the idea of light in the darkness and how it gives me a sense of hope- something upon which to cling. There is a quote I found that really captures the meaning for me. It’s a quote from John Mark Green and he says, “You are not the darkness you endured. You are the light that refused to surrender.” I like to think that I am a survivor who has learned to thrive in spite of everything life has thrown my way.
Light is a predominant theme but music is a huge influence as well. It’s not just a listening experience but a completely sensory immersive experience. Many of my paintings reflect the feelings and images invoked by listening to music and then depicting the imagery be it pictures or color with movement that comes to me while immersing myself in a song.
Although light and music have and will continue to be a huge focus for my work, Philosophy and politics have captured my recent attention. I am a Taoist and as such I try to incorporate both principles of Taoism and the overall concept of nature into my subject matter. This is why I have spent so much time reflecting the human form and why I have focused so much time with portrait work. The current political climate has taken an equally important role in my work since 2016. For me, the current climate towards certain groups has become intolerable. I consider myself an ally of both the Black/Minority as well as the LGBTQ+ community and am currently working on separate portrait series for each to try and bring awareness as well as some understanding and compassion to these minority groups.
Art and expressing these concepts have become my life’s purpose and although I didn’t always consider myself an artist, I cannot imagine that I ever was or will ever be anything else. I hope my body of work can make a small dent in an incremental change in how Neurodivergent people are perceived and appreciated as well as bring some much-needed tolerance, education and new perspective to groups that need it the most.
What were you like growing up?
I was a weird kid, a loner and a dreamer. I had no idea up until the last few years that I was on the spectrum and that I had synesthesia. So, I never understood why I didn’t fit in anywhere. I never understood why socializing was so difficult, why no one understood me or why the perspective I had was so alien to my family or teachers. I was a good student but I hated school. I was always daydreaming or making things doodling in my notes as school so I could pay attention. Turns out I also have ADHD. I was profoundly interested in any and I mean any arts and crafts-related activity. It really didn’t matter what it was, if it was creative, I was down for it. When other kids were having sleepovers or playing sports or whatever, I was creating flowers from paper, teaching myself to embroider or making handmade painted sweatshirts. Although my life has been difficult, I was and continue to be a fighter and I have fought hard to have a good life. I am happy to say that I have a very happy life now in spite of my many challenges thanks to a great family and to art.
Pricing:
- Typically $4 per square Inch
Contact Info:
- Website: harlynsteeleart.com
- Instagram: @harlynsteeleart
