Brittany Ryan

Born in 1983 in San Diego, California, Brittany Ryan received her formal education at Laguna College of Art and Design. Graduating in 2005 with a BFA, majoring in Illustration and a minor in Sculpture and her MFA in drawing and painting in 2010. 

Brittany currently lives and works in Southern California. She is involved in group shows with local museums, galleries and art associations. In 2021 Brittany was juried into the California Art club Gold Metal Show and won first place in sculpture at the Portrait Society International competition. In 2020 won the Gold Medal award at the National Sculpture Societies 87th Annual Awards show, as well as other commendations in previous years.

In 2018 Brittany completed the “Canyon Walkers” a monumental sculpture project consisting of four monumental size figurative sculptures cast in bronze installed at the main campus of Laguna College of Art and Design. In 2013 Brittany was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields grant, a prestigious grant created for contemporary figurative artists.

Since 2014 Brittany has been the sculpture department coordinator and an instructor at her alma mater Laguna College of Art + Design. 

In the execution of her work Brittany strives for balance between a modern aesthetic which could prevent the work from feeling timeless, and an entirely classical one that might make it irrelevant. These figures are specific, not idealized, not without identity. She is looking for a space somewhere between narrative and poetry for them to inhabit. Hoping the viewer relates deeply to the power and intent of the figures, to care about where they are going, to feel what motivates them.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.