CAMIE LY ONS
From the Centre
21 May – 8 June 2024
From the Centre
21 May – 8 June 2024
Opening Night
Tuesday 21 May 20 24 6pm – 8pm
15 Roylston Street Paddington NSW 2021
Exhibition Dates
Tuesday 21 May – Saturday 8 June 2024
Open 7 days 10am – 6pm T 02 9360 5177
sydney@australiangalleries.com.au australiangalleries.com.au
Cover image: From the Centre (detail) 2024 bronze 110 x 142 x 60 cm; Left: Artist’s studio; Photography: James Evans Foundry booth images taken by artist at Crawford’s Casting, Strathfield. All bronze for exhibition cast with Central Foundry, Mascot
Over the centuries, artists have been fortune tellers, warning the state of play both socially and with the environment. There is a great deal of sensibility in today’s art world which has its eye well and truly on the preservation and wellbeing of our shared world with nature.
This attitude is revealed most beautifully in the work of Camie Lyons. We are looking at bronze sculptures, sometimes mounted on concrete, but the genesis of Camie’s work is nature itself. These hard surfaces begin with soft walks through the bush. In many cases each image is made up of carefully selected branches from saplings and fallen trees, each catching Camie’s eye as she is immersing herself both in nature itself and the outcome. It is like nature has pre-drawn the work and Camie is adhering to that tune. Other works are made as bronze raindrops, splashing into their own form, again honed, and tuned by Camie.
There is a very strong relationship between all of Camie’s mediums. Her symphony translates across works made in the foundry, to others drawn on large and small sheets of paper. It’s as though the sculptures have jumped from the paper into bronze or the bronze has leapt into the drawing. There is a marvelous but sure marriage between all her mediums. It is Camie’s intelligence, intuitions, integrity, and pure ability that bring her particular passion alive. She loves nature, bringing its beauty and importance as a snapshot in art pleading for the continuance that nature rules us all. Camie recognises our need to care for the environment and its great and crucial gift to mankind. Camie instinctively knows we humans are the guests not the landlord of our planet.
Not afraid of hard stuff, and messy beginnings she turns into remarkable beauty her nature gathered “stuff”. The works she produces have a sense of sophistication as well as that lasting power of its timeless feeding of us. That is to say, we can glimpse its current beauty but never forget its sense of longevity and where it started.
This is the culture Camie carries with her wherever she goes. Many of the images in this exhibition are from her 2024 residency in Tasmania where, despite logging and water issues, it is possibly one of the great paradises left on Earth.
Stuart Purves Left: Artist in studio From the Centre 2024 bronze 90 x 110 x 51 cm Girl Interrupted 2024 bronze 50 x 98 x 38 cm Grounded Wings 2024 bronze 80 x 90 x 50 cmWrestling History 2 2024 mixed media on industrial paper 156 x 90 cm
Many Mouths (to kiss and feed) (detail) 2024 bronze 90 x 110 x 51 cm Many Mouths (to kiss and feed) 2024 bronze 90 x 110 x 51 cm Heartlands 1 2024 acrylic and ink on linen 125 x 85 cmdrawings 4 2024 ink and charcoal on paper 76 x 56 cm
Shift Heartlands 2 2024 acrylic and ink on linen 125 x 85 cm Shift drawings 2 2024 ink and charcoal on paper 76 x 56 cm At the Core 2024 bronze 73 x 80 x 53 cm Internal Shifts 2024 bronze 49 x 70 x 27 cmAt the Core 2024 bronze 73 x 80 x 53 cm in progress at at Crawfords Casting,
Strathfield Divided Heart 2024 bronze 60 x 66 x 30 cm Endurance Weaving 2024 bronze 70 x 68 x 38 cm in progress at Crawfords Casting, Strathfield Fossil 2024 bronze 77 x 46 x 13 cm Left: Salvaged Shadow 1 2024 acrylic, pencil and ink on canvas 170 x 110 cm Right: Salvaged Shadow 2 2024 acrylic, pencil and ink on canvas 170 x 110 cmWrestling History 3 2024 mixed media on industrial paper 110 x 89 cm
2005 Master of Fine Art (Sculpture), College of Fine Arts, Paddington (COFA)
2003 Granite Course, Sten Academy & Chalmers University, Sweden
2001 Studied Butoh and Laban Movement Techniques, Soros Foundation, Bulgaria
2000 Concrete Course, Chalmers University, Sweden
1999 Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
2024 ‘From the Centre’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
2023 ‘Undulation’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2022 ‘Bush Calligraphy’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
2020 ‘Making Meaning’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
‘A physical response’, Australian Galleries, Sydney
2019 ‘A physical response’, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
‘Humming Space’, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2018 ‘Untethered’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2017 ‘Out on a limb’, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2016 ‘Spirit Recovered’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
‘Tenderness and Tenacity’, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2015 ‘Rural Romance’, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
‘Solid Drawing’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2014 ‘Finding Beauty’, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
2012 ‘Just This Moment’, Australian Arts Projects, Singapore
2011 ‘Wallflower (entering space)’, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2009 ‘In the Zone’, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
‘Lyrical’, Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2007 ‘Ionosphere’, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
‘Falling’, Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2005 ‘Casting Into Space’, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
‘Ned & Bob’, Hungerford & Edmunds Architects, Sydney
2004 ‘e:Motion’, Spence & Lyda, Sydney
2000
‘Moebius Dance’, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
‘Earth Cycle’, Gothenburg City Gardens, Sweden (on permanent display)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 ‘Sculpture in the Garden’, Wollongong Botanic Garden, Wollongong, NSW
2022 ‘6 x 6 x 6” Miniature Sculpture Show 2022’, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
‘Artists at Home: Book Launch 2022’, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
‘Sculpture by the Sea’, Bondi, Sydney
‘Sculpture Inside’, Bondi, Sydney
Lake Art Prize, Museum of Art and Culture, Booragul, NSW
2021
2020
‘Sculpture at Scenic World 2021’, Scenic World, Katoomba, NSW
‘Sculpture Other’, Katoomba Cultural Cenrtre, Katoomba, NSW
‘Sydney Contemporary presents 2020’, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair (online)
‘Winter Salon 2020’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
‘Persona’, gallery HZ, Hong Kong
‘Navigating the line’ (online exhibition), Australian Galleries
Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, Ravenswood School for Girls, Sydney
‘Live in Art 2020’ (Highly Commended), Live in Art Gallery, Sydney
‘Sculpture at Scenic World 2020’, Scenic World, Katoomba, NSW
‘Sculpture Otherwise’, Katoomba Cultural Centre, Katoomba, NSW
2019 ‘Sydney Contemporary Works on Paper’, Australian Galleries, Carriageworks, Sydney
2017 ‘At Bull Bay’, Delmar Gallery, Hobart
2015 ‘At Bull Bay’, Delmar Gallery, Hobart
2014
‘Singapore Affordable Art Fair’ with Australasian Art Projects, Singapore
2013 ‘Loaded: The Ned Kelly Exhibition’, Australian High Commission, Singapore
‘Grounded’, Australian High Commission, Australian Arts Projects Singapore
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair with Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
2012 Melbourne Art Fair with Tim Olsen Gallery, Melbourne
2011 ‘Wattle: A Survey of Contemporary Australian Art’, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2010 Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
‘Sculpture 2010’ Tim Olsen Gallery, Woollahra, Sydney
‘Signal 8’ Summer Show, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Melbourne Art Fair with Tim Olsen Gallery
Hong Kong Art Fair with Cat Street Gallery
2009 Hong Kong Art Walk, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2008 ‘Signal8’, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2006 ‘Friend Lyons Petrie’, Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney
‘Sculpture 2006’, Global Gallery, Sydney
2004 ‘Push Hard Cut Deep’, Avja Yards, Sweden
2003 ‘Granite Plays’, Hunnebostrand, Sweden
2000 ‘Earth Cycle’, Gothenburg City Gardens, Sweden (on permanent display)
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES & MAJOR COMMISSIONS
2024 Residency at AiRSpace Oatlands, TAS
2023 Commissioned by Deloitte Australia with Art Pharmacy, bronze wall work for Circular Quay offices, Sydney
Highly Commended, Hawkesbury Art Prize, Purple Noon Gallery, Freemans Reach, NSW
Winner, Mount Eyre Art Prize, Rex Livingston Art Objects, Katoomba, NSW
Highly Commended, Sculpture in the Garden, Wollongong Botanic Garden, Wollongong, NSW
Finalist in Sculpture in the Valley, Barrengarry, NSW
2022 Commissioned by AMP Major Foyer Wall works for the Capitol Building, Sydney CBD
Finalist in the Lake Art Prize, Museum of Art and Culture, Booragul, NSW
Finalist in the North Sydney Art Prize 2022, The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability, Sydney
2021 Residency at Umbi Gumbi, Cutagee NSW
Winner, Sculpture at Scenic World Award, Scenic World, Katoomba, NSW
Winner, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Award, Katoomba NSW
2021 Commissioned by the Langham Group, Major Foyer Broze, Gold Coast, QLD
2020 Highly Commended Award, ‘Live in Art 2020 Invitational Art Prize’, Live in Art Gallery, Sydney
Artist Residency at BigCi Australia, funded by Scenic World, Blue Mountains, NSW
Finalist for Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney (postponed to 2022)
Awarded the Ralph Woodford Residency, Byron School of Art, Byron Bay, NSW
Awarded the Umbi Gumbi Creative Residency, Cuttagee, NSW
Commission by the Hilton Hotel, Suite of Drawings, Sydney
2019 ‘Symbols of Endearment’ 4 large drawings commissioned by Tiffany & Co, New York for Sydney Flagship Store, permanent display
2018 Hill End Artist Residency, Bathurst Regional Gallery, NSW
2017 Public Sculpture and Wall Works commissioned by Bates Smart Architects, Melbourne
Bull Bay Artist in Residency, Bruny Island, Tasmania
2016 ‘Natures Waltz’ Kerry Hotel foyer sculptures, Sheraton Group, Hong Kong
2014 Bull Bay Artist in Residency, Bruny Island, Tasmania
2011 ‘True Project’ sculpture commission for Phuket, Thailand
2009 ‘Many Leaps Towards You’ wall installation, Pullman Project, Homebush Bay
2008 Public sculpture commission, Hoi Ha Wan National Marine Reserve, Hong Kong
2006 Public sculpture commission for Sydney City Council, Sydney
2005 Awarded Research Grant, College of Fine Arts, University of NSW
2004 Guest Artist, Stone Academy Hunnebostrand, Sweden
2003 Artist in Residence (Stone sculpting course), Chalmers University, Sweden
2001 Soros Foundation Scholarship to attend Butoh and Laban Techniques in Sofia, Bulgaria
2000 Winner of the Baron Edson Public Art Commission, Waverly Council, Sydney Artist in Residence (Concrete course), Chalmers University, Sweden
AMP limited, major work collection
Deloitte Australia
Gothenburg City Gardens, Slottskogen, Sweden
Hilton Group collection
Hoi Ha Wan Marine Reserve, Hong Kong
Marriot international Collection
Midlands Regional Council, Tasmania
Sydney City Council, Sydney
The Langham, major works Collection with the Great Eagle Group
Tiffany & Co., Sydney
Waverley City Council, Sydney
As well as public and private collections in Australia, England, Sweden, Singapore, London, Hong Kong, France, Thailand and New York
Right: Emergence 2024 acrylic, pencil, charcoal and ink on paper 76 x 56 cm