The circuitous path to my current career as a textile artist and educator never could have been predicted. I’ve always needed some creative outlet but growing up it was manifest in music and writing. After college studies in English and Architecture I ended up choosing to stay home to raise my children and frankly, lost my creative self for several years. When a friend introduced me to traditional patchwork quilting it drew me in as a creative medium that I could work into my hectic and unpredictable life. With textiles I could take a few stitches at a time in five minutes here and there. It stays done. The paint doesn’t dry on the brush while I’m taking care of the lovely little monsters.

When I moved into creating wall art with my textiles my soul found its home. Creating order and beauty from the chaos of my materials and my life. Mastering my skills and honing my vision led to successes in showing my work in shows around the country. Perhaps the pull to share what I knew was irresistible, it was inevitable, coming from a family of educators.

I started teaching a few dye classes locally and within a few years was able to realize my long time dream of traveling. The quilt world is a huge and active social community and larger guilds often bring in teachers from far and wide. It’s the best way to travel. I get paid to visit new places and play with other creatives.

Soon I began to feel drawn to helping my students understand that it’s never impossible or too late to become an artist. Too many people think that “talent” must be inborn. I vehemently disagree. Time after time I’ve heard students say “I’m not creative” and it seems to shut them down.

Now it’s my favorite soapbox to shout from. I want everyone to know that art can be understood. It can be learned. We don’t give up on a child that can’t read Shakespeare – we TEACH them to read. It can take years of practice and work to get there. Art is the same – and truly much easier to understand. Then if you want to become an artist yourself you simply practice and do the work to master each skill you want to learn.

My online art school at Lyric.Art is where I focus on helping people to understand the visual language of art and to tap into their own creativity. I teach concepts instead of techniques. We learn to see how the elements of Line, Texture, Shape, Color, and Value function and gain the vocabulary and skill to analyze what we are seeing and use that understanding in our own artwork.

These days I find as much joy in watching a student light up and claim their creativity as I do in making my own artwork.
You can see my work at https://lyrickinard.com and take a look at my art school at https://lyric.art.