Meet the Kaleidoscope Winner: Annette Lyons, Beginner Category
Kaleidoscope Challenge
The Winning Beginner Piece
Annette Lyons won the Beginner Kaleidoscope Challenge with her imaginative piece, Kaleidoscope Vision. The work was inspired by the medical phenomenon known as kaleidoscope vision, a temporary visual disturbance that can occur before a migraine. The condition creates shimmering tints, fragmented shapes, and sparkling distortions at the edge of a person’s field of vision — effects remarkably like the patterns seen through a kaleidoscope.
Annette entered the challenge as an opportunity to stretch and strengthen her metal clay skills while interpreting the theme in a deeply personal and visually compelling way.
Creating Kaleidoscope Vision
Annette began the project with a series of sketches exploring how kaleidoscope vision might affect someone driving down a road. From the beginning, she envisioned the piece in three dimensions to emphasize perspective and recreate the disorienting visual effects associated with the condition.
As the work progressed, the final piece evolved significantly from the original drawings. Annette incorporated a range of techniques to convey the sensation of shifting colors, fractured imagery, and flashes of light. She used patina to create subtle tinted effects, applied varied surface textures to suggest distorted shapes, and finished portions of the silver to a mirror shine to capture the sparkle and movement of light.
Although she is very pleased with the final result, Annette says she would not recreate the piece exactly as it stands today, preferring instead to continue exploring new creative directions.
The Artist Behind the Work
Annette lives in Exeter, in Devon in the southwest of England. After retiring two years ago, she discovered metal clay and quickly became captivated by the medium. Her journey began with a 10-week evening course at Arts University Bournemouth in Dorset, where she studied under metal clay artist and instructor Grainne Reynolds.
Her background spans many years of creating and teaching across numerous artistic disciplines, including textiles, quilting, appliqué, embroidery, and leathercraft. Annette believes strongly in continually learning and challenging herself creatively. She regularly attends both in-person and online courses and workshops, valuing not only the technical instruction but also the exchange of ideas and encouragement found within creative communities.
Why Challenges Matter
This was only the second challenge Annette has entered — and remarkably, the second she has won. Even so, she admits that entering challenges still brings feelings of doubt and anxiety. Despite those fears, she sees challenges as an important part of personal growth, creative development, and overall well-being.
Annette believes artists should participate in challenges because they encourage experimentation and push creators beyond their comfort zones. Working within a specific brief while knowing others are also striving to produce their best work motivates her to refine her ideas and techniques at a higher level.
In fact, Annette says some of her strongest work has come from participating in AMCAW challenges. For her, the process is not only about competition, but also about growth, focus, and the satisfaction of creating something meaningful.
Find Annette at:
instagram.com/lyonsannette20
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