Brilliant, bold colored prints and large, thimble-shaped vessels—both in clay—will be featured in Mitch Lyons’ solo exhibition running from May 20 to June 17 at the Lynden Gallery. The public is invited to meet the artist at an Artist’s Reception on Friday, June 9 from 5:00 to 8:00. The reception will feature jazz by the area's popular REESE PROJECT, and a $5.00 cover charge is requested. Join us in kicking off the Central PA Friends of Jazz Festival which is in Harrisburg all weekend.

MITCH LYONS has been working with clay since he received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics from the Tyler School of Art in 1968. He has pioneered a technique for printing with clay that has earned him praise as a true innovator in the art world.  The process sounds complicated, but consists of working on a slab of stoneware clay.  Lyons mixes China clay powder with water to create a milkshake-like emulsion, called a slip, which he then colors with pigment.  Various colored slips are applied directly onto the clay slab.  Lyons then covers the slab with wet canvas, presses a rolling pin over the canvas, and pulls off a one of a kind print.   What he has on the canvas, “…is actually a very thin layer of clay,” Lyons explains, “with subtle transitions between the colors.” 

“When I started doing this process,” said Lyons, “my colors were more muted and earthy colored.  Over the past 35 years, I’ve become more and more comfortable with strong color.”  The gallery works shown on his website (www.mitchlyons.com) reflect the change in his chosen color palette. His current work is still created on the original six-foot by six-foot clay slab that he and his son constructed in 1980.  Originally, the layer of ceramic clay was ¼-inch thick; today it is three inches thick and layered with hundreds of pounds of China clay and color. 

Lyons’ other works featured in the Lynden Gallery exhibition are large thimble-like vessels made of clay that is salt-fired to create a luminescent glaze.  Lyons confessed that his mother, who was a seamstress and had an extensive thimble collection, inspired him.  He remembered the thimbles and was inspired to transform his memories into tangible objects in his medium of choice—clay.

Mitch Lyons’ clay monoprints are in public and private collections throughout the United States. His work is currently on view in Washington, D.C., Chestertown, MD, Chadds Ford, PA, and Santa Fe, NM.  He is a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Visual Arts grant.  Lyons has taught at West Chester University, Moore College of Art, Rowan University, Alfred University and the University of Delaware. 

In the past 25 years, Lyons has conducted hundreds of workshops all over the country teaching his innovative clay monotype technique, leading Leonard Lehrer, of New York University’s Department of Art and Art Professions, to say, “Mitch Lyons has added to the vocabulary of contemporary art.”

A WORKSHOP will be offered, led by Mitch Lyons on June 10 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. with lunch included. Participants will create their own works with clay in this hands-on workshop. Reservations are required and the class is limited to 10 participants.  For reservations, call the Lynden Gallery at 717.367.9236.

Lynden Gallery is located at 117 South Market Street in Elizabethtown, PA, in the original, refurbished Fire Hall.  The gallery is handicap accessible and offers convenient parking.  Open Tuesday through Saturday 9:00 to 5:00, the gallery also offers evening hours by appointment.   For more information about Lynden Gallery or Mitch Lyons, kindly call the gallery at 717.367.9236 or refer to the website at www.lyndengallery.com.