Inside Hyphae House: Layla Lyons on building Plymouth’s bold new artist led space

What’s On Plymouth Culture Reporter and Fashion Designer  Victoria Lammie caught up with fine artist Layla Lyons in her new artist-led exhibition and project space Hyphae House, to find out more about her art practice, life after her MA and what’s in store for Hyphae House. 

Layla Lyons(Photograph)

You’re a fine artist in your final year of a masters degree at Arts University Plymouth. Can you tell me about your work and the recent arrival  of Hyphae House?

I’m a painter, and painting has been at the centre of my life for a long time. There was about a fifteen-year gap between finishing my BA and beginning the MA, so returning to study has given me the chance to look at my practice afresh and ask harder questions about it.

A lot of my recent thinking has been about painting as a place of relation: a slow, attentive form in a culture that often pushes us towards speed and distraction. About why painting remains relevant: not as nostalgia, but as a living form that still creates genuine encounters between object and viewer. 

Hyphae House grew alongside that. It came out of a desire to make a space that sits adjacent to the gallery system: not in opposition to it, but not dependent on it either. It’s an artist-led space, allowing things to unfold, and encouraging experimentation that might not be able to happen elsewhere in more resolved spaces. It makes room for visibility and connection.

Why is Hyphae House important to your practice?

One of the things many students lose when they leave art school is the shared critical environment. Practices can become very isolated very quickly. Hyphae House creates a context in which people can meet, show work, test ideas and build something together. I enjoy bringing people together, and I’m not interested in closed circles. I like the openness of meeting new people and seeing what emerges from those encounters.

What do you think makes Hyphae House different from a traditional gallery setting?

It has a different kind of energy. Traditional galleries can be wonderful, but they often come with a more fixed curatorial structure. Hyphae House is more porous. It has a lot of heart, and that matters. The project has grown out of real working relationships and ongoing conversations between people who already know one another’s practices, alongside newer connections that are still forming.

The first iterations have included fellow artists from Arts University Plymouth as well as tutors, so there is already a shared history in the space. That gives it a particular character. It feels less like a neutral white box and more like a living situation where work and conversation are genuinely entangled.

What will people be able to see and experience at Hyphae House?

A range of artists from all  backgrounds, networks and stages of their careers. What matters is not hierarchy, but the quality of the invitation and the conversation between works. Ideally, someone entering Hyphae House would feel that they were stepping into a living network of creativity rather than a static display.

Because the house is divided into distinct rooms, we’re also interested in giving artists the chance to shape a room in a more immersive way. That means each part of the house can become its own world, while still contributing to the atmosphere of the whole.

Scott Jenkin(Photograph)

What's next for you and Hyphae House after you’ve completed your MA? And what does it mean to be producing ambitious work in the city? Perhaps work that's been shaped by the city and your time at AUP?

Finishing the MA is the immediate next step, but I already have a number of ideas developing for future shows. We’ve had a very successful performance evening already, alongside our exhibition Para-Site, and I’m now working on what comes next.

What’s exciting is the possibility of doing something ambitious and slightly audacious in Plymouth: making serious, adventurous work here, and creating a space that feels responsive to the city while also adding something new to it. My time at AUP has definitely shaped that. It has sharpened my thinking and given me a stronger sense of what kind of work, and what kind of conversations, I want to help bring into being.

How do people get involved? 

People can follow Hyphae House online via our website and Instagram, and can contact us for invitations to exhibition openings and performances. The best way to stay connected is to get in touch directly and follow updates online.

Layla has certainly created something truly distinctive and captivating for Plymouth.  Her incredible paintings compliment the elegant Victorian walls perfectly, adding depth and character to the space. She describes Hyphae House  as ‘slightly punk’ and it's easy to see why, the entire house feels like a living artwork. Steeped in history, this beautiful Victorian building has a unique charm that lingers, leaving you curious to discover more! 

The next event at Hyphae House is Ceremony, a performance/installation show opening on 22nd May and viewable until 31st May .

The MA Show takes place in mid July.

Website: https://www.hyphaehouse.co.uk/

Instagram: @hyphae_house_