Ryan McClure
Ryan McClure graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in three dimensional studio art with a concentration in ceramics. He has received several awards including the Knoop Sculpture Award and a Ceramics Merit Award. He has also had work shown at the Kent State 10th Annual Juried Cup Show and locally at Aroma Cafe.

The pieces are small scale paintings making use of color fields, color theory, and elements of design that spatially challenge foreground and background. Depictions of nature, mostly trees, are a huge influence on my work. The trees represent the idea of how everything is on the brink of life and death, the fragility of nature and humans. The images may be seen as dead or they may be viewed as a cycle of life, a dormant stage on the threshold of bloom. We are stuck in the paradox of living to die and dying to live. Most, blindly walking through and within the spectacle of everyday without giving a thought as to why, at what cost, and for which meaning they are existing.

Ryan can be contacted at ryanmcclure2@gmail.com.