Lycia Trouton

Lycia Danielle Trouton is an artist and contemporary art theorist based in Canada, Australia and Northern Ireland (Belfast). She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and emigrated to Canada in 1970. After pre-college studies at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles followed by a year of liberal arts, majoring in art and drama at Whittier College in California, U.S.A. Lycia obtained her BFA (Hons) in sculpture at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, U.S.A in 1988 and her MFA also in sculpture at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S.A in 1991. After moving to Australia in 2001, Lycia completed her PhD for The Linen Memorial, at the University of Wollongong, 2006.

Lycia's 1990s Canadian oeuvre was large scale, site-specific sculpture or land art. Her signature artworks engage 'materialism in sculpture' or 'aggregate' sculptures in the style of organic conceptual minimalism. She likes to use Irish bog oak, a compressed material iconic to 'Ireland', 'hogfuel' another compressed organic substance like 'bark mulch', this time iconic to the British Columbia logging industry. Sometimes she chooses to work with banal, inexpensive materials similar to that of the arte povera movement, using materials which produce artworks that are 'of a living system'.

After a decade of constructing earthworks in North America, and installing 1 civic and 1 ecclesiastical commission (both in bronze) in Seattle, USA, Lycia began work on her The Linen Memorial in 2001 after exhibiting in a park in an 'interface area' North Belfast in 1999.

After a decade of constructing earthworks in North America, and installing one civic and one ecclesiastical commission (both in bronze) in Seattle, USA, Lycia conceived of The Linen Memorial in 2001 after exhibiting in North Belfast. The Linen Memorial commemorates those killed in 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland in a non-hierarchical listing of names hand sewn memorial on Irish Linen Handkerchiefs. The 2002 Australian showing included an interdisciplinary dimension, featuring an original sonic-scape by Thomas Fitzgerald (composer), which incorporated Kevin McFadden's Gaelic poetry, with oration by Antony Stamboulieh, and a performance with choreography by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, OAM, and her Mirramu Dance Company. The Memorial was publicly unveiled in Ireland in 2007 as part of The first Private Day of Reflection.

Lycia lectures in contemporary art history and post-modern, post-colonial art criticism and/or studio-practice, is an emerging academic writer and art critic (in print and on TV) and since 2000, art theorist, presenter and interviewer. Lycia was co founder of ArtistRun as a collaborative group providing promotional support for emerging artists and musicians in Vancouver in 2000 and in February 2007, she was responsible for the re instigation of The 19th Century Cushendall Trust 'Essay' Prize proposed by Francis Turnly (1766–1845) the former Landlord of Cushendall for his Integral Union of Human Society.

Site-conscious sculpture - 1991 - 1999

• Labyrinth
  • 1991 Greek Theatre, Cranbrook Educational Community, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,1991
• Hogfuel Horns and other artworks - Webs, Logboom
  • 1992, University of British Columbia, Malcolm Knapp Research Forest
• Forest Art
  • 1992 University of British Columbia Research Forest
• Three large-scale installations
  • 1992 Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia
• Serpentine Knowledge and BioLogical Time
  • 1993 Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
  • Catalogue essay, BioLogical Time, Gerry Craig, Gallery Director and Fabric Artist, USA, 1993. (onsite)
• Art Terre
  • 1994 Second Biennial Arts Exposition, Buckingham, Quebec, Canada
• The Dragon's Tail
  • 1995 Albright College & University of Pennsylvania, Berks Campus, Reading, Pennsylvania
• Terra Flux
  • Collaboration with David Scott-Risner
  • Horsehead International Sculpture Exhibition, Seattle
• Waters of Life
  • 1999 for Horsehead International Sculpture Exhibition, Belfast
• 7 Bronze Samaras: Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge
  • 2002 King County Library System, Maple Valley Library, Washington state with Johnston Architects and James Cutler Architects

Installation Art about Memory, Trauma & Migration : 2000 - 2008

• The Linen Memorial : 2001 - 2008
  • 2008 - The Linen Memorial, The second Day of Private Reflection, June 21, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland
  • 2008 - The Linen Hall Library exhibition
  • 2007 - The Linen Memorial, The first Day of Private Reflection, June 21, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland
  • 2006 - Slide Presentation, Australian National University, Cross Cultural Research Centre, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  • 2005 The Irish Linen Memorial thesis exhibition, University of Wollongong Faculty Gallery
  • 2004 Transformation of Tears: The Irish Linen Memorial Craft ACT Gallery and Design Centre, Canberra, collaborative exhibition
  • 2002 The Irish Linen Memorial 'Horrific Hankies' collaborative exhibition, Long Gallery, University of Wollongong, NSW
  • 2002 - Unfolding Territories group exhibition
  • 2001 - Between Two Worlds: The Common Body, The Irish Linen Memorial, Gallery One, Ellensburgh, WA, USA
• Past/Future: Handkerchiefs of Hope
• Home Sweet Home Collaborative video work with Brian Kennedy, 2006
• Excavation of being at rest: Make Do and Mend (Video)
• Make Do and Mend
• Carousel
• Hinge/Fold Series

Permanent Collections

• Bundanon Collection, NSW
• King County Library System, Maple Valley Library, Washington state with award-winning Ray and Mary Johnston Architects & Assoc. and James Cutler Architects
• St. Dunstan's Church
• Stanley Park, Children's Farmyard, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Community Fence Design with co-artist Pat Beaton, printmaker, and grunt gallery, management, East *Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Private collections
  • Mary Madonis, 3 garden cauldrons
  • Sally Kaplan, photo-documentation print of Labyrinth

Selected exhibitions

• 2007 How do I get out of Here, How do I get Back? Penghu Art Centre, Taiwan, People's Republic of China. Curator: Chin Ming Lee
• 2002 Unfolding Territories, Cloisters Gallery, University of Wollongong, NSW
• 2002 Australia's Industry World competition, 10 short-listed winners, BHP Steel Plant, NSW
• 1999-2000 Seattle Millennium Project, Festal, Seattle Center, Washington, USA
• 1999 Horsehead International Sculpture Exhibitions, Belfast, Northern Ireland & Seattle
• 1998 Horsehead International Sculpture Exhibitions, Seattle, Washington
• 1997 Albright College, Timeframes, Reading, PA
• 1995-7 Penn State University, Landmarks, Berks campus, Reading, PA
• 1995 Fremont Fine Arts Foundry, Foundry Direct, Seattle, WA
• 1991 Paint Creek Centre for the Arts, Nature as a Living System, Birmingham, MI, U.S.A.
• 1991 Detroit Artist's Market, Site, Lines and Planes - artists and architects, Detroit, MI
• 1991 Cranbrook Art Gallery MFA thesis exhibition, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
• 1988 Forbes Gallery, Juried show by Sam Gilliam, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 1988 BFA Thesis exhibition.

Ecclésiastique Public Art

• St. Dunstan's Church Porch Cross in bronze relief

E-Collections

• The Georges Pompidou Centre, Electronic Resource Arts Library, Paris, France

Writing

• Lace: contemporary textiles : exhibition + new works (Contributor: ISBN 0-9775325-5-0 (0-9775325-5-0)
• FibreArts 2007, VOL 34; NUMB 3, pages 44–45

Educator

• Professora-Investigador:
  • F.L.A.C.S.O, Quito Ecuador, South America 2011.
• Department Head:
  • University of Tasmania, Australia June 2009 - December 2010
• Contemporary Art History and Theory/Studio Lecturer:
  • University of Tasmania, Australia 2009
  • University of South Australia, Adelaide 2006
  • Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 2005.
• Conference Coordinator and Tutor:
  • University of Wollongong, NSW 2002 - 5.
• Instructor at Kwantlen University College with British Columbia Institute of Technology (B.C.I.T) Canada.

Public Art Consultant

• Seattle Arts Commission and Seattle Public Library with Streeter and Associates, award-winning Nakano Associates Landscape Architects, Washington, USA 2001 - 2002 for the renovation at Rainier Beach Public Library, South Seattle, Washington.

Grants & Awards

• Production grants
  • Canada Council mid-level career production grant for The Irish Linen Memorial 2001
  • Canadian High Commission, Canberra, ACT grant for The Irish Linen Memorial 2004
• Travel grants
  • British Columbia Arts Council travel grant to Belfast, Northern Ireland for Horsehead International Projects exhibition
  • Canada Council Travel Grant to Quebec, Canada for Art Terre
• Residential grants
  • Varuna Writer's Retreat, December 2008
  • Bundanon Artist Retreat, New South Wales, 2006
  • NSW Ministry of Arts in conjunction with ARTSPACE, The Gunnery, Sydney, Australia, 2004
• Educational awards
  • International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS)
  • University Postgraduate Award (UPA) University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
  • Mannesman Demag Senior Award in Sculpture, Carnegie Mellon University
  • British Columbia Cultural Fund Scholarship
  • Art Talent Tuition Scholarship, Whittier College, Los Angeles, CA
  • Full Tuition Scholarship, Otis Institute of Parson's School of Design, Los Angeles, California