Review

"Hearing", Acrylic on Canvas.

Victoria Lyons
Art 101: Pictures from a Class

Noon-8 p.m.

Turner Community Library
831 S. 55th Street
Kansas City, KS
913.596.1404

Hours: Noon-8 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m-2 p.m. Saturday
Runs Through: May 8

Gallery site: Through KCK Public Library page

Some months back, I got into a conversation with an artist who also teaches art in a public high school.

His point, with which I agree, was that art teachers should be artists -- practicioners, not simply theoreticians. That should be true in all the arts: Music teachers should be musicians, acting teachers should act and writing teachers should have published clips.

Taking that one step further, it could -- and should -- be argued that given a choice between equally qualified teaching candidates, the post should go to the most creative. Teachers who create encourage students to think for themselves, develop their own visions and passions.

This brings us to today's featured artist, whose creative interests chart a wide-ranging course.

Victoria Lyons, now in graduate school at Rockhurst University, plans to teach English after earning her master's degree. Besides painting, Lyons writes, sings, acts, knits and is learning to play guitar.

Most of the pieces  in her first art show, which runs through May 8 at the Turner Community Library, were done during an introductory painting class Lyons took in her final undergrad year at Rockhurst The work is clearly that of a beginning artist, but one with promise and  something to say.

Hearing, the piece atop this post, is the most intriguing of the lot. The idea of linking the spectrum of sound to that of light has been explored before, especially by artists who have or are fascinated by synesthesia.

Check out the colors in Lyons' personal rainbow, though. This is no orderly, evenly-divided portrait of Roy G. Biv. Cool hues predominate, with orange almost out of the picture. For whatever reason, there are frequencies this listener has trouble hearing: bright, warm sounds, perhaps, like a muted trumpet or the singing of a child. But in the lower end of the sonic spectrum, a cello concerto or the rumble of a contented cat would resonate deeply and richly.

A teacher who doesn't expect colors and sounds to conform to rigid patterns won't expect students to fit into a uniform mold, either. And that's a good thing.

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