Esmond Lyons

Adirondack Art Legend • Muralist • Educator

Esmond Lyons is a Glens Falls–based artist whose work is defined by scale, patience, and classical discipline. He lives and works in a repurposed church in Glens Falls, New York—a setting that reflects his reverence for history, craftsmanship, and spaces built with intention.

With a professional career spanning more than three decades, Lyons has established a distinguished body of work in decorative painting, large-scale public murals, and fine art. He is equally respected as an educator, having taught mural painting and mentored generations of artists in traditional techniques, composition, and visual storytelling. His studio practice encompasses abstracts, landscapes, still lifes, and figurative subjects, unified by a meticulous hand and a deep understanding of classical form.

Lyons is widely recognized for his monumental public murals, including the east-facing brick wall at 153 Maple Street in Glens Falls, where he created Portrait of a Jewish Man—a trompe l’oeil reinterpretation inspired by Rembrandt’s Christ with Arms Folded, housed nearby at The Hyde Collection. Completed in 2022 and privately funded, the mural is layered with illusion, subtle narrative detail, and moments of quiet wit, inviting sustained contemplation rather than immediate interpretation. Lyons has described the work as an invitation to reflect, not instruct.

His artistic voice has been described as “dead serious, classically skillful, and deeply funny without being irreverent”—a balance that allows his work to resonate with both intellectual depth and human warmth.

Lyons’ collaboration with master piano technician and composer Stephen Gallucci developed organically through shared circles of collectors, musicians, and preservation-minded patrons who value legacy over trend. Their partnership solidified around the restoration and artistic transformation of a Steinway grand piano, where Gallucci’s generational mastery of sound and structure met Lyons’ painterly sense of surface, narrative, and place. The result revealed a rare harmony between visual art and musical instrument—each discipline elevating the other.

Today, Lyons and Gallucci collaborate exclusively through ADK Art Pianos, where they create one Adirondack-themed art piano per year. This deliberate limitation allows each piano to be approached as a singular work—never rushed, never repeated. Lyons treats each instrument as a living surface, informed by landscape, history, and material honesty, while Gallucci ensures the piano remains a world-class instrument, fully capable of performance.

Within ADK Art Pianos, Lyons’ work extends beyond decoration. Each piano becomes a narrative object—meant to be seen, heard, and lived with—crafted for collectors who value patience, authenticity, and enduring beauty.