Colin Lyons grew up in Petrolia, Ontario; the birthplace of the North American oil industry. He employs the chemistry of printmaking to reflect on issues around geoengineering, extraction, alchemy, and brownfield rehabilitation. He has developed recent site-based projects in sacrificial landscapes such as tailing piles, decommissioned landfills, historic flood infrastructure, remote islands, and urban brownfields.
Over the past several years, he has participated in residency programs at Frans Masereel Centrum, Rabbit Island, The Grant Wood Colony, Klondike Institute of Art & Culture, and Kala Art Institute, and has been included in exhibitions at International Print Center New York, Krakow International Print Triennial, Museum London, Platform Stockholm, and The Soap Factory.
While at MacDowell, he developed speculative climate prototypes for The Alchemical Valley Geoengineering Seed Vault.
Portrait by Evan Rensch
