Artist-Led Tour: John Lyons: Carnivalesque

Artist-Led Tour: John Lyons: Carnivalesque

07 Feb 2025 - 07 Feb 2025

Join artist John Lyons and curator Olivia Heron from the Whitworth, University of Manchester for an exclusive preview of the exhibition, ‘Carnivalesque’. Explore the vibrant paintings and poetry that are on display and find out more about the process of developing this powerful exhibition. All ticket holders are also welcome to attend our evening launch event which runs from 5.30-7.30pm.

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Standard - £ 6
Concession / Members - £ 4
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About John Lyons

John Lyons (b.1933) is a painter and poet. Born and brought up in Trinidad and Tobago, he came to the UK to study art at Goldsmiths College in London (1959-64), then trained as an art teacher at Newcastle University (1964-65). In 1967 he moved to Manchester, where he lived and worked for 30 years. Developing his painting practice alongside teaching full time, he has exhibited regularly in solo and group shows since 1979, and is a prize-winning poet, with eight published volumes. Contributing energetically to national and regional creative scenes, Lyons has been selected for exhibitions, served on boards and judging panels, and acted as an external purchaser for the Arts Council Collection (1987–1989). From 1998-2004 he ran community arts organisation Hourglass Studio Gallery in Hebden Bridge with his partner Jean Rees, which endured until 2012. His work is held in public collections including the Arts Council Collection, Kirklees Museums and Galleries, Touchstones Rochdale, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He lives and works in Cambridgeshire.

About Olivia Heron

Olivia Heron is curator at the Whitworth, The University of Manchester. She is curator of John Lyons: Carnivalesque, presented at the Whitworth in 2024 and at The Box in 2025. Previously she worked at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (2017-2021), and the Mercer Art Gallery (2013-2016). Key exhibitions and projects include the mid-career retrospective Chila Kumari Singh Burman: Tales of Valiant Queens (MIMA, 2018), and research collaborations with Black Artists & Modernism (MIMA, 2019-20) and the British Art Network research group Art and the Women’s Movement in the UK 1970-1990 (co-lead, 2022). She is co-editor of the exhibition publication John Lyons: Carnivalesque.

Image credit
John Lyons, 1996-98, The Counsellor (detail) © John C.M. Lyons