Michael Lyons

• Honorific Suffix — RSA FRSS • Born — 10 July 1943 • Birthplace — Bilston, Staffordshire, England • Died — 19 April 2019 • Place of death — Cawood, North Yorkshire, England • Known for — Metal sculpture

Lyons was educated at Cotton College, Staffordshire, at Wolverhampton College of Art (1959–1963), Hornsey College of Art (1963–1964) and Newcastle University (1964–1967).

Lyons was Head of Sculpture at the Manchester Metropolitan University between 1989 and 1993 and also taught at college in the US, China, and Canada. He represented Britain in Biennales in China, Argentina, Mexico and Australia. His drawings and sculptures are in various collections, including those of the Canary Wharf Group, Arts Council England, the Henry Moore Institute, and the Yale Centre for British Art. In 2011, three sculptures, 'Mayflower', 'Energy Of The Mountain: Echo And Revelation' and 'Energy Of The Mountain' were stolen from Lyons' studio and were never recovered. He was a Trustee of the Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture.

Lyons has exhibited at various galleries, shows, and venues including: • New School House Gallery: 'Half-light' (19 June 2015–15 August 2015). • Leeds Art Gallery. 'Michael Lyons: Freeze Frame' (9 March 2016– 26 July 2016). • One Canada Square Scale Appropriate on loan (31 March 2014– 23 May 2014). • Yorkshire Sculpture Park. • Macay Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. • York Art Gallery / York Museum Gardens Michael Lyons: Ancient and Modern (25 May 2019–May 2020).

• Illustration — Doves of Peace at The People's History Museum • Illustration — Argonaut 1909 • Illustration — At the Argentinia Bienalle, 2006 • Illustration — Michaelmas (1983) in the York Museum Gardens, 2019 • Illustration — Harvest: Demeter's Dream (2000) in the York Museum Gardens, 2019 • Illustration — Mayflower (1983) in the grounds of York Art Gallery, 2019 • Illustration — Michaelmas (1982) in the York Museum Gardens, 2019

Lyons grew up in the Black Country, and the area's post-war industrial landscape had a life-long influence on his work, as did his strong Catholic upbringing and, in later life, his interest in mythology and cosmology. In 1970 he married Stephanie Kay, whom he had met while they were students in the Department of Fine Art at Newcastle University and together they had a son David born in 1975 and daughter Anna in 1978. In 1977 he moved to Cawood, near York where he established a studio.