Courtyard Series: Kevin Lyles

About the Artist

Kevin Lyles grew up in Tennessee and Texas and graduated from Abilene Christian University with a BFA in art and then Bradley University with an MFA in sculpture. After graduate school he worked for ten years in sculptural restoration repairing monuments and architectural ornamentation. For the past twenty-five years he has taught art at the University of Rio Grande where he is a full professor. His work has been shown in more than 150 international, national, and regional exhibitions and is in many permanent collections. His sculpture often mixes several media within each piece with the aim of developing a visual story for the viewer. Currently he lives in rural southeast Ohio in a timber-frame home in the woods with his family.

About the Artist’s Work

CoreFlora is a stainless steel and bronze sculpture that was specifically created for the Huntington Museum of Art. Having a vibrant museum is a luxury for a small community; having a museum that marries both art and science is really an unusual treasure. It is exceptionally uncommon to have such beautiful hiking trails, a plant conservatory, and world-class art all together. It is this combination that Lyles was interested in showing in his sculpture. The silhouettes that create the main body of the work are taken from images gathered on the walking trail. The bronze reliefs are modeled after conservatory plants. These reliefs placed within the overall shape mirror the Museum’s atrium within the architecture.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.