Mallie Sykes
Art with a passion
Mallie Sykes grew up in Dahlonega, Georgia, a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. At fifteen she was given her first professional camera, and her passion for photography soon grew into a love for every kind of art. In her third year of college she switched art from her minor to her major so she could fully pursue it.
At the University of North Georgia she was introduced to printmaking and made it her concentration right away, building an appreciation for many movements and mediums while finding her own niche as an artist. That niche came into focus when she discovered polyester-plate lithography, a process that brings together her two loves: photographs and color. After graduating in 2020 with a Bachelor's degree in Art Marketing, she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, to chase two dreams: art, and living at the beach.
In August 2021 she had her first solo exhibition in Tampa, and her work has since been featured in art shows throughout the Tampa Bay area. She still lives on the beach, creating and figuring out her purpose as an artist and as a person.
Specialties
Printmaking
Transferring an image from one surface onto another, through techniques such as woodcut, linocut, intaglio and lithography. Lithography is Mallie's favorite so far.
Photography
Mallie's longest-held craft, practiced for thirteen years, and the starting point for most of her art. Her work spans weddings and events, documentary, portraiture and landscape, and her newest venture: underwater photography.
Painting
Watercolor, acrylic, oil and sumi-e, with most of her experience so far in acrylics and watercolor.
Working with Skip
Mallie's art so often begins with a photograph, and she and Skip are both photographers, which makes them natural partners. Between them they photograph the boat, the crew or the dog, on the water or at the dock, and Mallie turns that photo into a one-of-a-kind piece: a print, a painting or a digital portrait. Together they create something a snapshot can't: your boat, the way you see her.