Lisa Marie Coyne has a way of capturing moments that don’t scream for attention—but settle in and stay with you. Her photograph The Light through Darkness is one of those. It was taken in Rineen Woods, West Cork, on a quiet, sunny walk with her two boys. That day, she was juggling the beauty of nature with a mental storm. Then, she turned a corner and saw sunlight cutting through a tangle of dark branches. The moment froze. She lifted her camera. A simple act, but the image says a lot—light and dark aren’t always separate. They live together.
That idea runs through most of her work. The messiness of life, the duality of joy and struggle, the calm that can rise in the middle of chaos—Coyne doesn’t run from those things. She leans into them. Her art is grounded in lived experience, not high-concept theory. It speaks in plain language. You don’t need an art degree to feel it.
Coyne’s journey as an artist didn’t start in some gallery. It started like it does for many: as a kid, lost in drawing for hours. Life eventually got in the way. She shelved her art, dipped in here and there, but the fire never really went out. In 2018, after going through a tough patch, she went back to college—Kinsale College in West Cork—to study art. It was the right move. She studied painting, sculpture, textiles, and more, throwing herself into the work and thriving in the creative energy of others. She finished the course with top results and a sense that she’d finally come home.
In 2020, life threw her another curveball. She gave birth to her third child, Joe, in the middle of the Covid lockdowns. Her focus shifted to home and family, but art didn’t disappear—it just took a different shape. In 2022, she bought a rundown property in rural Drinagh. It was unlivable. No experience, three kids in tow, and a crumbling house—but Coyne saw potential. Two years later, the home was renovated. She pulled it off with a mix of grit, creative vision, and practical know-how from her years in the brewing and construction industries. She even secured a rural grant to help fund the project.
That same drive shows up in her art. Since finishing the house, she’s been steadily building her portfolio. A recent sculptural piece, a couple nursing their newborn, marks a softer, more intimate direction. Her work has appeared in the Clonakilty Community Art Centre Members Exhibition, and she participated in the Ludgate Wall Art Project and Competition—an entirely new arena for her. She didn’t just try it; she won a six-month residency.
Coyne is now creating a piece for the West Cork Arts Centre’s Skibbereen Members Exhibition in May 2025. It’s another step forward, and she has plans beyond it—selling work, continuing to blend photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, and textiles. She’s especially interested in working with schools and communities. She believes creativity can heal. Art helps people slow down, get present, and process what’s swirling inside. Coyne knows that firsthand.
Her style? Unpolished in the best way. Her work reflects the world as it is, not as we wish it would be. Nature plays a big part. So do emotion, human form, and personal storytelling. Coyne doesn’t separate art from life—it’s all one stream. That authenticity is part of what makes her work land.
She’s not chasing fame. She’s raising her kids—Neve, Shaun, and Joe—in the quiet of West Cork. She’s walking the dog. She’s making art when the house is still, chasing light through the trees with her camera, and turning raw experience into something that can speak to someone else.
Coyne believes in showing up for life—all of it. The hard days. The ones full of sun. The parts where you feel lost. And the ones where everything clicks, even for a moment. Her message is simple: nourish your soul. Share your talents. Keep going.
Art doesn’t need to be big or loud to matter. Sometimes it’s just a photo taken in the woods, at the right time, when the light hits. That’s what Lisa Marie Coyne brings to the table—a quiet honesty. The kind that reminds you you’re not alone.
