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Celebrating the achievements of the Canyon's pioneers
Artist explores Grand Canyon's geology through steadicam field recordings

Submitted photo<br>
Sculpter and installation artist Antony Lyons walks along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Submitted photo<br> Sculpter and installation artist Antony Lyons walks along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - Sculptor and installation artist Antony Lyons is South Rim Artist-in-Residence at Grand Canyon through Sept. 16.

Lyons, an Irish national living in Bristol, England, has a science and design background, with an undergraduate degree in geology from University College, Cork, and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Greenwich in London. He incorporates sculpting materials (especially steel, vitreous enamel, and concrete) as well as video and photography in his work. Lyons works on large-scale public works and more intimate, long-term, explorations of place, often focusing on the idea of "creative transformations" involving landscape design, environmental, and land-art projects. He has a special interest in creating mixed-media pathways, trails and portals in public places with the intent of crafting mysterious routes grounded in both ancient and contemporary influences.

Lyons has participated in many residency and public art programs including the Leonardo/OLATS 'Lovely Weather' project in Donegal, Ireland; following in the footsteps of the romantic poets in Quantock Dreaming, Somerset, England; and way marker installations for the Green Ribbons path network in Sheffield, England. This will be Lyons' first residency opportunity in the United States as well as his first visit to the Grand Canyon.

Lyons said watching the Life on Earth BBC series from 1979, in which narrator Richard Attenborough travels a vertical mile into Grand Canyon in search of fossil evidence of the earliest life, was an early educational inspiration.

"By the time he reaches the Colorado River bed, the geological strata are 2,000 million years old. In hindsight, this was one of the inspirations that led me to study my degree in geology some years later. Lyons said a film made by the Kolb Brothers, Emery and Ellsworth, documenting their almost superhuman explorations of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon also made a deep impression, as did images of panoramic photographs taken on the geological expeditions."

During his time at the Canyon, Lyons hopes to develop a personal creative response to these archival records, providing a contemporary perspective on some of the same sites, using the scientific references and aesthetic qualities of the original records.

"I plan on using a steadicam in the Canyon, allowing me to bring a dream-like quality to some of my field recordings," Lyons said. "My work will be a celebratory acknowledgement of the early pioneering achievements and geological investigations, but also form a contemporary imaginative exploration, creating a 'deep mapping' profile of my time at the Canyon."

Lyons plans to take to the trails with his recording equipment and steady cam, meeting and talking with other hikers about his project. He will also present an artist talk to local high school students on environmental and public art projects, and is planning on spending significant time in park archives, collecting images and inspirations for a final Grand Canyon piece to be completed upon his return home.

Lyons is writing an on-line journal of his artistic adventures while at the Canyon. Please visit his journal at http://web.me.com/antonylyons/fossicking/canyon/canyon.html.

Lyons' residency is supported in part by the UK National Lottery through Arts Council England. For more information about the Grand Canyon artist-in-residence program, please visit www.nps.gov/grca/supportyourpark/air.htm.


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