Painting With Joy: Artist Joy Morykon’s Passion For Creativity Follows Her From Chile To Lynchburg

With the stroke of a brush, local Lynchburg artist Joy Morykon can turn any canvas or journal into a beautiful work of art.

Morykon, or Joy Starbright as she is known on Instagram, has many titles: mom, believer and local Lynchburg artist. 

Before she became an artist, Morykon grew up in a missionary household in Chile. According to Morykon, growing up in a missionary lifestyle was challenging as her parents struggled to balance ministry and parenting. Spiritual dysfunction developed inside of her, leading to emotional neglect.

“I had trouble with this sense of homelessness on the inside, this longing for belonging all the time,” Morykon said.

Although Morykon grew up in the church, the connection with the Holy Spirit was not talked about frequently. She wondered why she felt something missing in her life and why she never felt she belonged anywhere.

“I started to realize that I didn’t really have the Holy Spirit in my life, or I didn’t really know of him in all of my life,” Morykon said.

Morykon described how God called her to belonging through her creative personality when she was a child. She said that God revealed to her that he was always with her when she would create art in her room, and that was where he spoke to her the loudest. 

“He was always with me, and he was specifically with me in my creativity in my childhood,” Morykon said. 

Morykon continues to create art as it brings her comfort and leads her closer to God. She described how art provides healing for her soul.

“My art … that I make and the way that I make (it) is actually something that I do for my own soul nourishment and (to) take care of my inner child in those places of neglect that I incurred when I was a kid,” she said.

Morykon’s passion for art followed her to Lynchburg where she hopes to host workshops for fellow artists in the area. She moved to Lynchburg five months ago to be closer to family. 

“We’ll focus on creative practice (and) art exploration, and we’ll also do spiritual practice,” Morykon said. 

Morykon expresses her creativity by using art journals, collages, abstractions and mixed media. She uses whatever surfaces she feels would be interesting for her art, such as a raw drop cloth canvas instead of a traditional canvas.

“I kind of steer away from like the traditional store-bought canvas just cause I really like the way the material shows up on different surfaces,” she said.

When it comes to her creative process, she has two sides. One is for fun, and the other for business, selling to clients or doing art shows. 

When she does art for fun, she grabs materials, plays around with various colors and doesn’t focus on how it should look. However, when focusing on the business side of her art, she channels her creativity by journaling.

“For an art show or selling to a client, I do like to set a different kind of intentionality,” Morykon said. “What helps me a lot is I’ll always start with journaling.”

Morykon balances the life of an artist with being a mom to her three children. One way she does this is helping her children find their creative side by creating art with them.

“One of the things I did specifically and still do is actually create with my kids,” Morykon said.

Morykon hopes to inspire others to channel their creativity, especially Liberty students. She encourages them to join one of her workshops in the next few months as she believes students can benefit from taking time to be creative.

“It’s important to remember to take time for yourself, to connect with God in a quiet place, to remember who you were made to be and to activ(ate) that creative place inside of you,” Morykon said.

Woolwine is a feature reporter.