to Lyric.Art

where we work to 

Learn and Understand
the
Visual Language of Art

This is a course and community exploring the elements and principles of art through the study of the visual language.

We bring together artists of all levels from around the world so that we can find our unique voice and bring our vision to life.

Are you ready to embark on a transformative journey as an artist? We invite you to join our ongoing year-long course in the elements and principles of design. 

The course is a year-long comprehensive series of lessons and prompts that focus on being able to organize and explain your artist's vision. This understanding of how the elements and principles of art function in a composition lays the foundation for your artistic expression.

"I have not been in Lyric’s classes long, but already I am able to examine my art quilts and see ways that I could improve them based on what I have learned. " - Martha Turner

The Course

Learn to see, understand, and explain the elements and principles of art.

Unleash your potential! Whether you are a seasoned artist or just starting out, this course is tailored to all skill levels and open to all media. 

We are not learning techniques here.

You can learn to paint or quilt or 

At Lyric.Art we are becoming fluent in the visual language of art so that we can better understand the world of art. We are learning how compositions work so that we can communicate our own unique visual message more clearly.

This same set of on-demand courses (The Artist's Toolbox parts 1 and 2) costs over $1200 as it has been offered in the past.

You don't want to miss this!

How this course works:

• Weekly lessons focus on just ONE Element or Principle of art each month. 
• Each month's course material stands alone and you can join at any time.
• Lesson are open for 8 weeks then close until the next cycle.
• The full course takes one year to complete.

Lessons include written material and exercises that will train you to see, understand, and describe how the elements and principles function to create a composition. Learn to better understand visual design and composition. Learn the vocabulary that will help you to better verbalize what you are seeing as you analyze and make design decisions about your art. 

This will encourage students to jump in at any point and to concentrate more deeply on just one Element or Principle at a time. The goal is for students to gain a deep understanding of how the Elements and Principles of art function in the visual language and to be able to fluently describe what they are seeing when they look at a work of art.

Extras!

Monday Jump Start Your Art Exercises

Start each week with an optional short exercises to help you loosen up, get unstuck, and prime your artist's brain for creativity. Each exercise is a bit silly, meant to be entirely pressure free, and will also help you learn to use an Element or Principle in your own art.

Wednesday Art History Prompts

Midweek you will be introduced to a new historical or contemporary artist and encouraged to think about how they use the element or principle of art that we are focusing on that month.

Friday Observation Prompts

Go into each weekend with specific inspiration to look for. Simply observe teh world around you in a different way through the frame of what you have learned about this month's element or principle of art.

Ongoing Lively Community Discussions

There is a vibrant and ongoing discussion feed where students post their lesson exercises and prompt results and chat about about art with each other. This is a lovely, supportive, and safe space to explore the visual language of art with the people who "get you."

Monthly Chat with an Artist Interviews

In these live Zoom interviews, Lyric discusses the creative process with other guest artists. Students who attend the interview live will be able to ask questions of our guests. Vision students will have access to the recording until the next live interview when the recording will be moved into the archives in the Find Your Voice space. 

Monthly Open Work Sessions

Join Lyric via Zoom for these casual "work on your art and chat with other artists" events. Times and dates vary. These sessions are not recorded.

The Community

Two Week Free Trial

Learn to speak the visual language of art in your own unique style. In this supportive, vibrant, and safe community, artists grow and deepen their own vision through active participation in group discussions.

We encourage you to sign up for the free trial and take a look at the Focus Your Vision course material and the instructions in the Find Your Voice membership.
This is a membership for  artists ready to truly work on their art. 
We ask members to commit to one year in a working artist group.

Live Critique and Q&A Sessions
Lyric leads these live Zoom sessions to teach you a more objective, useful, and emotionally safe way to analyze the art you see, and the art you make. Get feedback from Lyric on your work and ask any questions you have.

Small Working Artist Groups
You will be matched with a small group of artists (6 max) and given a private space where you can discuss your work, ask for honest feedback (according to our critique guidelines), and motivate each other to reach your individual goals. You will be asked to attend a live zoom meeting once each month so that you can get to know each other and provide support and accountability to each other.

Bi-Monthly Workshops, The Business of Being an Artist
Every other month have a live zoom workshop helping you to strengthen the business side of your artistic endeavor. These workshops will be recorded and kept available for members to access at any time.

Optional Bi-Yearly Challenges
These challenges involve directed work for an intense and limited period of time. These are not "use this specific fabric or make something in this theme" group prompts. The challenges are designed so that each artist works on their own art in their own style, with the added motivation of deadlines, and the stimulation of sharing the journey with your community.

Artist Chats Recording Library
In these interview recordings, Lyric discusses the creative process with other guest artists. All interviews are available for Find Your Voice community members to access at any time.

Meet Lyric Montgomery Kinard

I'm on a mission to help you gain confidence in your vision as an artist!

I transform cloth into art in my studio and timid spirits into confident creatives in the classroom. I'm on a mission to help YOU find your own unique vision and voice. It doesn't matter if you've never had an art class, or even if someone, somewhere, told you that you aren't creative. With the right teacher and a determination to do the work, you can become the artist you always secretly wished to be.

Biography

Lyric Montgomery Kinard is an award winning quilt artist with a passion for sparking the creativity that she knows each of her students possesses. With playful support and gentle encouragement she creates a classroom environment where discovery and joy are the products of a willingness to freely play and fearlessly learn. 

One of Lyric’s greatest joys is sharing that moment when a student realizes that they do, indeed, have a spark of creativity inside them. She then gives them the tools to fan that spark into a steady flame. 

As a recognition of her skill in the classroom she has been named the IAPQ Teacher of the Year for 2011. She is the author of the book Art + Quilt: design principles and creativity exercises. She has written extensively for Quilting Arts and a number of other magazines, appeared on Quilting Arts TV, and The Quilt Show, and is co-founder of the Global Quilt Connection.

In her past life she was a musician, earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Utah and has also formally studied architecture. She currently lives in Cary, North Carolina with her husband and some of their five children.