Lyra Munson and her acrylic paintings

Interview with student artist lyra monson

Artist inspired by Salvador Dali and Surrealism

ARTS AND CULTURE | November 2024

Lyra Monson is a junior, and she has been taking art classes since elementary school. She is also one of Mary Van’s Literary Magazine students, and she is working on her own personal book full of her writing and art. “Lyra is extremely talented with digital illustration, and she showed her book’s editorial designs to the class. She is creative and courageous, volunteering to share her work and discuss her ideas,” Van said.

What is your favorite medium?

I prefer acrylic paint because acrylic will dry faster, and it’s easier for me to work with. If I make mistakes, I can just paint over them, and act like they didn’t happen.

What style do you usually lean toward?

Usually, cartoon style. I don’t lean toward Realism often because I’ve never really done it. I find that realism can be a trapping because I can’t do things that I like to do. I like to exaggerate things and not focus on the anatomical details. I also feel like Realism is very time consuming.

Who or what is your inspiration? 

I really like Salvador Dali’s work. He’s a Surrealist artist. I really like his Surrealism work because of the amount of detail he puts in and that it can be interpreted in different ways. The symbolism of his work is more open to interpretation, and I think that’s really cool.

What is your favorite piece of  Dali’s work?

My favorite pieces of his work are probably the “Persistence of Memory” and “A Bulgarian Child Eating a Rat.” I like “A Bulgarian Child Eating a Rat” because it’s a really weird piece. He uses Realism well, and the title and concept is interesting. I have never seen a piece like that.