Grand Valley mourns death of artist

The Grand Valley community is mourning the death of artist and longtime university supporter Cyril Lixenberg. The artist died January 11 at age 82 in his Amsterdam home with his daughter, Dana, and son, Onno, by his side after suffering from prostate cancer.

Henry Matthews, director of galleries and collections at Grand Valley, said Lixenberg has been a part of Grand Valley since 1998 when he offered his first donation of personal works.

His donation of more than 300 silkscreen prints led to the creation of the Print and Drawing Cabinet, which preserves museum-quality works of art on paper.

“The Print and Drawing Cabinet has grown to more than 3,000 museum-quality works on paper by many different artists and has become an important learning and teaching resource,” Matthews said.

Lixenberg has contributed examples of his work over the years right up to a donation in 2014. Currently, Grand Valley’s Lixenberg collection includes more than 550 works of art, including works on paper and small and large sculptures. In 2013, Lixenberg received an honorary doctorate from Grand Valley.

Aside from making an impact at Grand Valley, Lixenberg left his mark in West Michigan, specifically in Holland. His piece “Uniting Sun” is the largest sculpture in the Holland area and the River Avenue Bridge has officially been named Unity Bridge in honor of the piece. The bridge is lined by Lixenberg’s “New Dawn Rising,” which consists of 12 discs accompanying “Uniting Sun.”

Matthews said Lixenberg visited Grand Valley and West Michigan annually to work with students, faculty, the GVSU Charter School, ArtPrize, local museums, and exhibitions.

In the below video, Lixenberg discusses the early years of his work:

For more about Lixenberg and his art, visit cyrillixenberg.com.