Mackellar Lyons puts her spare time and attention to detail to good use and has created a range of crocheted pieces that will feature in a new store in Albury. Photo: Vanessa Hayden.
Year 11 student Mackellar Lyons has been hooking in, so to speak, in preparation for stocking a new store in Albury with her colourful crocheted creations.
Heart and Soul will open in the City Walk Arcade in the first week of April and 15-year-old Mackellar’s work will be front and centre, one of only five artists to have their work on show and for sale in the handmade gifts and homewares store.
Picked up as a hobby at the tail end of COVID, Mackellar turned to crocheting to fill in some time and soon found her handsome handiwork was garnering attention from friends near and far.
“I started making cat beanies, not the ones for cats, but for people. I had seen them on-line and thought I want to make one of those. I did and then my friends all wanted one,” she said.
“Then Easter came around and I made Easter eggs in a basket and was able to put them at Mum and Dad’s market stall and it’s gone on from there.
“I saw so many things when I was searching for patterns for the eggs and I thought I want to make that, and that! I ended up making them and realised it was quite easy and that I could make a lot of them.”
It’s here where we can reveal that Mackellar is no stranger to artistic inspiration. Her father Angus is a successful woodturner, making handmade timber gifts and homewares, and her mother Patricia worked in performing arts before life through a curve ball which included a diagnosis of Multiple sclerosis.
In addition to putting the price on her work, Mackellar also highlights how long each crocheted piece took her so buyers can appreciate the time and effort that went into making each one. Photo: Vanessa Hayden.
On Dad’s side she’s a fourth-generation visual artist, a skill the family hold in high esteem.
“We realised when she was about three and half that the artistic gene had been handed down,” Patricia told Region.
“She was being looked after by our neighbor who had her grandchildren with her and they did some drawing.
“Our neighbor was floored by the attention to detail that Mackellar had put into a drawing of a family and she asked us if she could keep the drawing for herself.”
Indeed, the walls of the family home are adorned with original artworks, those of Mackellar’s alongside her grandmothers.
Patricia proudly shows off a crocheted collection of flowers that Angus commissioned Mackellar to create from a photo of their wedding bouquet.
You’ll also often find the Xavier College student alongside her father on weekends, stooped over a bench top wood-lathe shaping a simple block of wood into a work of art.
Her father’s woodwork will also feature in the new store alongside other creations such as rusty garden art, candles, skin care products and artwork.
Perfectly stitched up: Mackellar reveals that her craft work will be for sale in the new store which has been established by her artistic family. Photo: Vanessa Hayden.
Mackellar admits it wasn’t a daunting task creating the stock for the store.
“The store is actually being set up by our family who want to highlight the work of several crafters in the area. I’m lucky that my work has already received such a great response, so Mum was very happy to encourage me to be a part of it.”
In the meantime, Mackellar works toward finishing high school where she has a focus on the arts. She’s not sure which direction she’ll take when graduating.
“Creativity could take me anywhere. I did actually start trying to knit when I was younger but that didn’t go very far. It was very short-lived but I must have picked something up from it because years later I’ve taken up the other form of working with yarn which is crocheting.”
You can see more of Mackellar’s creations on her Instagram profile Autumn Loops or find her work at markets such as River & Wren in Wagga or the Self Made Market in Wodonga.
