Red Lodge Clay Center Long-Term Resident 2013-14
Ryan Matthew Mitchell is based in Jingdezhen China where he holds a studio and is International Coordinator for Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute Intl Research Residency. Ryan has been resident artist at Australian National University, McKnight Residency of the Northern Clay Center, Gaya Ceramic and Design, The LH Project, Clay Studio of Missoula, and Red Lodge Clay Center. He holds his M.F. A from the University of Montana Missoula. He is represented by the Nevica Project and is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC).
My work can pursue different directions ranging from figurative to abstracted sculpture. I create work in intuitively that intertwines aspects of nature and humanism. For me the creative potential rests on ideas and inspired motivations, impulses to move towards the unknown and untested. This drives me to pursue not just materiality, the expressive potential of the materials I use, but also the culture and historical representations that bind them.
Just like the clay, the past and future are always available to see anew. Creativity for me is found in the stretching of the materials, processes, and the plasticity of cultural meaning; it is always an exercise and practice in being free.