Courtney N. Ryan

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My ceramic practice is grounded in close observation of the natural world, particularly the quiet systems of growth, resilience, and transformation found in plants. I’m drawn to the forms of seeds, pods, and other vessels of potential—objects that carry life across distances, lie dormant in inhospitable environments, and respond to the rhythms of weather and place. These shapes find their way into my handbuilt ceramic sculptures, often through repetitive, meditative processes that mirror the cycles of nature they’re inspired by.

Over the past several years, my work has explored the tension between stillness and movement—how a form might appear at rest, yet feel as though it could take flight or multiply. In The Travelers, a recent and ongoing installation, I focus on seed forms as metaphors for migration and adaptation. This project has taken me to vastly different climates, from the frozen edge of the arctic tundra in northern Iceland to the seasonal shift of rural Vermont. The ceramic works that emerge from these residencies reflect those environments through surface, scale, and arrangement, while remaining rooted in imagined biology—forms that might exist, or perhaps already do.

Materially, I work primarily with cone-10 porcelain, stoneware, and earthenware, often layering glazes and oxides to create rich surfaces that speak to geological time. My process is slow and intentional, with each form considered as both an individual and part of a larger whole. I often think of my installations as small ecologies—systems of relationship, proximity, and rhythm that mirror the complexity of the landscapes that inspire them.

As a teacher and artist, I move between observation and invention, allowing the studio to be a place of research, care, and curiosity. Through ceramics, I’m continually asking how we connect to the land, to each other, and to what comes next.

BIOGRAPHY:

Courtney N. Ryan is a ceramic artist and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. She currently teaches in the Foundation Studies Department at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where she was awarded the Presidential Fellowship for Faculty Development two years in a row. In 2023, this honor supported a one-month residency at Vermont Studio Center to develop The Travelers, a ceramic installation exploring migration and seed dispersal. In 2024, she expanded this body of work during a two-month intensive residency at NES Artist Residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland, where she created site-responsive ceramic forms in dialogue with the arctic tundra.

Ryan holds an MFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from Georgia Southern University. Her work investigates the relationship between natural forms and ecological cycles—particularly seeds, pods, and the ways plants adapt, settle, and thrive in changing environments. She primarily works with cone-10 porcelain, stoneware, and earthenware to create sculptural pieces that are both organic and imagined, often forming immersive, wall-based installations.

Ryan has exhibited nationally at institutions such as The Delaware Contemporary (DE), MINT Gallery and Swan Coach House (GA), Columbus College of Art and Design (OH), Jacksonville University (FL), and the University of Georgia (GA). Internationally, her work has been shown at Aalto University (Finland), Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland), and NES Artist Residency (Iceland).

Her practice is rooted in observation, material investigation, and travel—each informing the forms, textures, and surfaces of her evolving body of ceramic work.