Professor Robert F. Lyon organic sculptures from clay, wood, and other various objects illustrate man’s influence on nature and the environment. Lyon is a professor of Art at the University of South Carolina. Lyon was born in Queens, New York in 1952. In 1977 he received the M.F.A. degree from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught ceramics, glass and sculpture at Louisiana State University from 1978-1995. In 1995 he accepted the position of Professor and Head of the Department of Art at Auburn University. Lyon has been the recipient of several awards, which include a Project Grant from the Southeastern College Art Conference, a National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Artists Fellowship in sculpture, and a Southeastern Artist Fellowship from the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.   

Artist Statement

“My work, which is mixed media sculpture, is concerned with the earth and our relationship to it. I continue to draw on references from previous cultures and civilizations, and try to explain my view of the work through the relationship of objects. My early works held and architectonic focus while the later sculptures exist in a larger realm, one that deals with a philosophy for the planet and those of us who live on it. Environmental fragility, memory, and cultural identity also continue to be themes in my work. Smoke, heat carbon, flame, ash; every aspect of fire had a transformative power. I use these to make the effects of my hands evident, in direct contrast to the digital heavy age in which we live. I am fascinated with he idea of control, the struggle to control the uncontrollable. I try to let the process take over so that the viewer can revel in the image, form and meaning.”