Artist Profile: Lyric Montgomery Kinard

Lyric Montgomery Kinard
Cary, North Carolina

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  This was the easiest theme I’ve encountered so far and as soon as it was announced I had ideas in my head that quickly coalesced into a work. I’ve been working enough recently that I’ve settled into a current set of images and shapes and lines that speak to me as an artist. They are abstract to begin with and endlessly challenging. They have enough variety that I am still enthused and curious about where each new variation might take me.

2. Describe your studio space. Short story? Crowded. Long story? Right now it is more unmanageable than usual. I am in the process of moving from the small (about 16’ x 16’) ground floor room I’ve worked in for the past 16 years into the third floor walk-up attic. All of my inventory from up there is currently down here. So I’m dodging boxes and piles and sorting through bins of stuff to get rid of before I have to haul it all back up two flights of stairs.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months. I am not going to be showing widely for most of 2018 as I concentrate on getting my new studio set up, get my current teenager graduated and out of the nest, and developing a new series of work. You can always follow my doings at www.LyricKinard.com to see if I get anything out there.

4. Do you ever work in a series? If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I absolutely love working in a series! My Personal Iconography piece is a continues exploration of circles and grids, sometimes broken, sometimes whole. Each finished piece leaves me with design questions to be answered in the next piece. It also leaves me with a pile of scraps and materials that often inspire just one more iteration of an idea. I do get bored easily - so my series are rarely created in a linear fashion. I’ll jump back and forth between a representational series and an abstract manner of working to keep myself engaged and interested. A series might run for years with a work added to it only once a year - but eventually it creates a body of cohesive work.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I love watching science shows. I read fantasy and sci-fi literature for pure escapism. I garden now and then.  I especially love teaching and travel. The quilt world has allowed me to go new places, meet new people, and see new things while sharing what I love! I am as energized by helping a student to find their creative spark as I am by being in the studio.