Her early works focused on a realist style including landscapes and cityscapes, specifically depicting Chicago, Colorado, and Mexico.

In the sixties she began making work that she termed "sculptural relief oil paintings."

This involved a process of embedding objects such as seeds, branches, glass, and string into the paint.

[4][5] During the period she was producing more abstract work she had solo exhibitions in New York, Detroit, Milwaukee, Miami, Paris, and London.

[6] In 1957, Garrison, along with twenty-three other artists, including Leo Segedin, co-founded Exhibit A, the first post-war, artist-run cooperative gallery in Chicago.