By Daniel Carter
Allyson Doyal is an artist whose main inspiration for her work lies in her love for nature and mythology. Doyal’s artwork consists of instillation pieces, all combining her love for nature and mythology within each piece. From her wine bottles instillation’s Dionysus, to her Aristaeus glass bottles, Doyal’s fascination with the ancient mythology and nature is a truly marvelous sight to see.
When speaking with Doyal, one of her main reasons for her wine bottle instillation, Dionysus, was because of her grandparents and home. The piece is a representation of the Greek god of the same name. Dionysus is the Greek god of wine and one that interested her for to create a design that could wrap around the wine bottles. Her preference for choosing the simplistic design for the bottles and all of her works is based on her idea of sleek, minimalistic designs. Doyal said that her “product design incorporates aspects of Greek mythology and nature in different ways.” She mixed in her ideas of making Greek mythology modern.
Allyson Doyal, Dionysus, glass, paper, wax
One of her other works is her honey bee jars titled Aristaeus, named after the Greek god of beekeeping. Once again, this instillation shows her preference for minimalism as the design is simplistic in the design itself. When asked about why she chose this particular, Doyal spoke of having strong points in her design, but needing things to work on. She incorporates the use of nature along with Greek mythology to merge two of her interest into one single work. The bottles are simply hexagon shaped while the design used to make the logo and label uses hexagonal shapes to give a true sense of a bee hive. The colors themselves are associated with honey in order for her idea of the Greek god along with the nature that is honey for this particular work.
Allyson Doyal, Aristaeus, glass, paper
Doyal’s love of nature also drives her works. She spoke of nature being a calming space for her, and a place she can go to when in the need of time alone. While she expresses her love for nature with her art, Doyal has spoken of being someone with good ideas, but has trouble flushing them out. Doyal may say that, but her final work in the exhibition says otherwise. Her last work is the Dryad Confections, a package piece, is named after the tree spirit or tree nymph’s in Greek mythology. This is another example of Doyal’s use of graphics design, as she uses it to her advantage in order to give the work a stronger presence in its place.
Allyson Doyal, Dryad Confections, paper
Allyson Doyal uses her love for nature and Greek mythology in order to express her own style of art. She uses her skills as an artist and her knowledge of mythology to create pieces that shows her personality and work ethic. Doyal shows that her passion for nature and mythology help her show a new range of artistic diversity within the exhibition.