ART ON A POSTCARD
I was able to add these three postcard sized artworks to my collection courtesy of an auction with ART ON A POSTCARD commemorating International Women’s Day 2025.
Ellen Starr Lyon
Front Door Stripes, 2024
Gouache on paper
Signed on Verso
10 x 15cm (3¾ x 5¾ in.)
About
Ellen Starr Lyon, b. 1974 in Columbus, Indiana. Lyon is a figurative painter focusing on modern portraiture that revolves around feminism, motherhood, and coming of age. Her naturalist painting style incorporates a colourful palette and multiple thin, luminous layers capturing her models in natural light. Lyon uses her own photography to catch unguarded moments that are translated into oil paintings showing glimpses of emotion on the faces of those around her. Lyon champions vulnerability as strength while showing it as our common language. Her Red Glove Series depicts her teenage daughter wearing bright red rubber gloves and a defiant expression to talk about the next generation's fight for reproductive rights. She has work in the permanent collection of the Evansville Museum, UC Irvine, and Indiana University. Lyon has been invited to the Pouch Cove Artist Residency in July of 2024.
Kate van Doren
Free Soul, 2025
Graphite on ACM charta panel
Signed on Verso
10 x 15cm (3¾ x 5¾ in.)
About
Kate Van Doren (American, b.1978) explores human resiliency, connection, and the healing power of nature through her realism paintings, drawings, and photography. With over two decades of experience as an art therapist in the mental health field, Kate offers a unique perspective that deeply connects with her subjects and fosters their stories about the human condition.
Kate received an honors degree in Fine Art and Psychology from the University of Oregon (2002) and earned a double master's in Counseling and Art Therapy from Marylhurst University (2006). As a board-certified art therapist, she has developed and administered art therapy programs for at-risk youth, individuals with severe mental illness, trauma survivors, the elderly, and hospice care patients. She also mentors artists and art therapy students globally.
Kate is the creator of the Healing Words Project, a photography and painting workshop for women that documents the healing journeys of over 2,000 participants. This project has been recognized internationally, including in Newsweek Español, as an early intervention program to prevent violence against women. Her current painting series is based from this initiative.
Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S. and Mexico, including Art Basel Miami, and is held in private collections worldwide. Kate has been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, PoetsArtists, Mod Portrait, the Art Renewal Center among other publications. In 2022, she was an ARC and Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Finalist, and earned 2nd Place in the international FIKVA award for painters. She was also a finalist in the ARC in 2024 and was also included in the Peregrine Collection, a time capsule of digitized art and literature sent to the moon.
Kate is based in San Miguel de Allende, México, where she devotes her time to her family, her art therapy practice, activism work, and her fine art studio.
Hae-jin Yoo
Woman in the Bath 'a', 2025
Oil on paper
Signed on Verso
10 x 15cm (3¾ x 5¾ in.)
About
Haejin Yoo is a contemporary artist whose work explores themes of identity, persona, and introspection. Working primarily with oil and acrylic paints, she incorporates mixed media such as textiles, carpentry, and spray paint to push the boundaries of traditional canvas art and create immersive, surrealistic expressions.
Her celebrated Woman in the Bath series reflects on private thoughts and the fluid nature of identity, drawing inspiration from the intimate setting of the bathroom. Haejin's art has earned numerous accolades, including 2nd prize in the 2024 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize: RAYMAR Traditional Art Award, being named one of Saatchi Art's Rising Stars for 2024, and winning the First Prize Abstract Award at FIRA International Art Fair Barcelona (2022).
After nearly eight years living and exhibiting in Germany, Haejin has returned to Sydney, Australia, where she continues to explore new mediums and themes, further expanding her artistic practice.
