Lis Naylor

I am an award-winning artist based in Leicester with over five years of experience exhibiting and developing my practice. Working with oils, gel prints and silk screen printing, my work is fluid, frenetic and dynamic, reflecting both my internal state and that of my work’s subjects.  

I began working as an artist from a place of catharsis; using creativity as a route to healing and making work that explored and championed women’s issues. This has led to several commissions from various organisations to create work with women in underrepresented communities across Leicestershire, helping them to find their voice and break free from shame and stigma. This has and always will be a vital part of my practice, but my recent work moves beyond this, using diverse artforms to reflect the joys and passions of my life now.

My connection to nature is a major influence on my work, mirrored in my delicate gel printed collection of seedheads and grasses, painstakingly hand finished and reworked to enhance their fine detail, gathered whilst foraging in the countryside. My paintings of horses are contrastingly bold and expressive, reflecting my love of these majestic animals and their power, movement, energy and spiritual nature. Finally my silk screen prints are inspired by the beauty of the body in motion, capturing the grace and vitality of dancers and life models.

In my portraiture I’ve developed a unique style in which the failure is the success of the piece; painting in concentric circles, working with and over mistakes to build depth in each image. This ethos of always moving forward, of recalibrating and pushing beyond is the thread that ties my work together, mirroring my life experience, personality and artistic journey.

CURRENT & FUTURE WORK
2023 Leicester Society Artists Annual Exhibition, Sock Gallery, Loughborough (September 2023).
2023 Market Harborough Artists Windows Takeover (September 2023).
2023 Working with Zinthiya Trust Global Majority women who have experienced domestic violence, running monthly workshops over 6 months which encompass wellbeing, art therapy and mindfulness for an exhibition (November 2023).
2023 Sigri, Greece, September artist retreat run by Tomas Watson, BP Portrait Artist Winner 1998.

EXHIBITIONS, EVENTS & AWARDS
2023 Gypsy Traveller Perinatal Mortality Exhibition, Westcotes54, Leicester. UoL commission.
2022 Leicester Society Artists Annual Exhibition, Newarke Houses & Museums, Leicester.
2022 Untold Stories, Cultural Ambition Funded Exhibition at BetaX, Leicester highlighting the plight of women from Global Majority communities who have experienced domestic violence.
2022 UppInArt pop up art exhibition, Oundle, Rutland.
2022 Sigri, Greece, September artist retreat run by Tomas Watson BP Portrait Artist winner 1998.
2021 Emergence2021, Two Queens Gallery, Leicester.
2021 Inspired by Lockdown, Green Dragon Square, Leicester.
2020 Love Art Exhibition, Leicester.
2020 Loving Lockdown Leicester (run by New Walk Museum).
2020 Sock Gallery, Loughborough, NHS Portraits 4 Heroes, Online Exhibition.
2020 Hub Gallery Leicester – Solo exhibition, contemporary figurative sculpture and paintings.
2019 UppInArt pop up art exhibition, Uppingham, Rutland.
2019 Rutland Open Studios.
2018 New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester, LSA annual exhibition of ‘Vernal’ sculptures.
2018 Richard Attenborough, award winner for ‘Vernal’ sculpture – LSA Annual exhibition.
2018 ‘Vernal’ featured in The Nail That Sticks Out short film, premiered at Phoenix Cinema and Pinewood Studios in September 2018.
2018 Fine Art BA – (Hons) Degree Show, De Montfort University, Leicester.
2017 ‘Art in Sustainability Festival, Brevard County, Florida’, selected to make public sculpture ‘Carmadillo’ measuring 36ft x 6ft x 15ft.
2017 Cank Street Gallery summer exhibition award winner, selected from 500 artists.

EDUCATION
2019-21 MA FineArt DMU Leicester 
2015-18 BA FineArt (Hons) DMU Leicester