Mike Lyon [b. 1951] is a full-time artist in Kansas City, Missouri. Lyon received his BA in Architecture and Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, his BFA in painting from Kansas City Art Institute, and studied mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock printmaking) under Hiroki Morinoue and Hidehiko Goto. Lyon has served as the Midwest Regional Director of Shotokan Karate of America since 1988. He currently sits on the boards of The Studios Inc in Kansas City, Missouri; Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado; the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and the International Mokuhanga Association in Tokyo, Japan. Lyon and his wife, Linda, share a stand in the second violin section of the Kansas City Civic Orchestra and have five children and five grandchildren.

Lyon is a pioneering figure in the field of post-digital printmaking. In his work as a printmaker, Lyon combines his knowledge of technology, cultivated during his 13 years as a computer hardware and software developer, with his formal art study. His invention of award-winning computer-controlled order-filling systems for Tupperware and others is an integral part of his printmaking methods today. He has adapted the computer-controlled router to carve blocks, apply paint to canvas, and put pen to paper. Equally relevant in his work is Lyon’s childhood interest in Japanese art and culture, which is reflected in his collection of Japanese ukiyoe prints.

My work is a long series of experiments in ways to communicate image through an unusual kind of mark-making. My process is complex and analytical and involves programming computers and building machinery to manipulate traditional art-making tools, materials, and imagery using non-traditional methods. I’m looking to the old while inventing (sometimes re-inventing) the new. I typically portray the face, figure, or botanicals like grass or leaves. The creative work is almost entirely conceptual, occurring inside my head. Because every mark. Line, or brush stroke is calculated in advance, I don’t get to see the results until the work is complete.

Public collections include the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Miriana Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, New York Public Library, Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, Springfield Art Museum, Wichita Art Museum.