Joan Lyons facts for kids
Joan Lyons (born in 1937) is an American artist. She is well-known for her amazing work in photography, printmaking, and making unique books. She also helped start the Visual Studies Workshop Press in Rochester, where she was the first director.
Early Life and Learning
Joan Lyons was born in New York, New York. She studied art at Alfred University in New York and earned her first degree (BFA) in 1957. Later, she continued her studies at SUNY Buffalo, New York, and received her master's degree (MFA) in 1973.
Her Art Career
In 1971, Joan Lyons helped create the VSW Press at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester. This place became very important for her art.
People who have studied Joan Lyons's art say she was a brave and creative artist. She loved trying new ways to make images, especially with new technologies from the 1960s to the 1980s. She wasn't afraid to try new things, even if they were uncertain. She saw these chances as ways to discover something new and exciting in her art.
Joan Lyons is very skilled with art processes and equipment. But her main idea is that everyday things and people around us become special because of how we interact with them. Simple objects she pictured, like chairs, plants, or an old apron, became important in her art. They showed how humans owned, used, and saw these items.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, she explored how her personal experiences as a woman could be part of her art. She questioned the usual ways photography and image-making were done. She showed that personal stories and feelings could be powerful subjects for art, even if they were different from what was usually shown by male artists at the time.
Her art has been shown in special exhibitions. In 2007, there was a show at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center. In 2018, her work was displayed at the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York and Paris. The Steven Kasher Gallery said that Joan Lyons's work bravely combined ideas about women's experiences with her own life. Her art was personal and made people think. She challenged the art rules of the 1950s. Back then, artists were often taught that modern art should be big, abstract, and universal. Joan Lyons realized her art couldn't be separated from her own life as a woman. Her unique stories helped her create new ways of making art.
Where Her Art Is Kept
Joan Lyons's artwork is part of many important art collections. You can find her pieces at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her art is also in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Her Archive
The Joan Lyons Independent Press Archive is a special collection of her work and materials. It is located at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York.
