Mike Lyons - Lenten Cover

Lyons was born in Bilston, Staffordshire in 1943 and studied at Wolverhampton College of Art and the University of Newcastle. He was Head of Sculpture at Manchester Metropolitan University from 1989 to 1993 and now lives and works in Yorkshire. His large scale public sculptures are sited in cities in China and Mexico and throughout Europe. His Lenten Cover was completed on Good Friday 1979 and is made of steel plate sourced from scrap yards in Hull and Leeds. It reminded the artists of cloths covering church statues during Lent. This monumental piece creates a gateway from one place to another and was originally exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery, London; before moving to Mold, Flintshire; at the Norwich Triennial; and in Margam Park, Port Talbot before being lent to the Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture in 1991.