Artist Profile: Lyric Kinard

Lyric Montgomery Kinard

Cary, NC

www.LyricKinard.com

1. Did the change in dimensions present any specific challenges for you?   I have been thinking in long narrow format row a couple of years and had some really great ideas that worked with it, so the square format caused me to start the design phase from scratch this year.

2. Describe your design area, specifically your work table:  what is the best thing about it? I have a drafting table that a college professor allowed me to rescue from the refuse pile. It’s the perfect hight for working while standing and I’ve replaced the top with a wider board… It’s just big enough for the size I like to work with.

3. What set this quilt apart from other recent projects you have been working on? This quilt moved deeper into what I’m finding as my favorite voice. It came together very quickly once I actually started on it.

4. When you get “stuck” how do you deal with a “design block”?  How do you overcome it? I need a deadline as I can procrastinate forever - thinking that this or that idea just isn’t quite the right one. Nothing like a looming deadline to force the issue.

5. Do you work on single or multiple projects at the same time? Too many projects to count - I get bored very easily and will set one thing aside to pursue another. This is not always a good thing.

6. What do you hope people take away from your work? Joy, serenity, peace. Whatever they need to take from the work is what I want them to find.

7. What are the best parts of working on an art quilt:  What are your least favorite parts? I love designing and the painting process. Although I love the added texture of stitch and can’t imagine my work without it, machine quilting is my least favorite part of the process.

8. What art/quilt-related organizations do you belong to? SAQA. The Professional Art Quilters Alliance - South.

9. Do you have a preferred color palette?  Why? These days it is almost entirely neutrals. Sometimes one color gives an accent. I think that I’m allowing texture to become an element that dominates color in my current work.

10. What do you regard as your most interesting milestones along your art journey? Publishing Art + Quilt  and realizing that I can help people learn the basics of the visual language. Too many people think they “are not creative” when in fact they simply haven’t been taught the basics of art in a way that is easy and approachable.