Year: 2007
Medium: Iron
Location: Mary Seacole Building, Frederick Road campus, University of Salford
Brief biography: b. 1958, Kingston upon Thames in Surrey. Lives and works Littleborough, UK.
Clasp was commissioned for the inauguration of the Mary Seacole Building – a place of learning for nurses. Mary Seacole is a heroine of the Crimean War and an iconic figure for the nursing profession.
Clasp represents a nurturing gesture – it forms the interior space when two hands are gently clasped as if protecting a delicate life.
Produced with assistance by students from Albion High School, Salford.
Made in association with Architects Atherden Fuller Leng.
Karen Lyons works from a studio base in Lancashire, England. Originating from Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, Lyons studied Fine Art (Sculpture) at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne and at Reading University. She has a long-standing academic career spending 22 years teaching Fine Art at 3 Universities: Lancaster, Sheffield Hallam and latterly, Salford, where Lyons was programme leader for the BA in Visual Art and for the MA in Contemporary Fine Art. She gave up my permanent teaching post in September 2008 to focus on her own art production full time.
Lyons acquired and refurbished a small Victorian mill in Littleborough on the outskirts of Manchester and in 2010 established Ebor Studio and Academy which comprises: group studios, gallery, a teaching programme, workshops, and artists’ resource.
Artist’s website: http://www.karenlyons.co.uk/