[3] The preview material for a 2023 retrospective at the University of Rochester states, "Joan Lyons has been a fearless innovator in a wide range of historical and contemporary image-making processes, as well as newly invented reproduction technologies of the 1960s–1980s.
It continues, "While Lyons is adept with process and equipment, her starting point is the idea that the people and everyday objects around us accrue value from our interactions with them.
"[4] Additional retrospectives include in 2007 at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center; and in 2018 at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York and Paris.
[4] The Steven Kasher Gallery claims, "Her groundbreaking work freely combines feminist theory and personal experience.
Her personal narrative, different in content and tone from the dominant male voice, pushed her to establish new artistic structures.