RYAN! Feddersen
Art Mediums: Site-Specific Installation, Sculpture, Printmaking, Performance
RYAN! Elizabeth Feddersen specializes in interactive murals, site-specific installations, and immersive public art that invites audience engagement. She completed a B.F.A. at Cornish College of the Arts in 2009. Feddersen is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, from the Okanogan and Arrow Lakes bands, and mixed European descent. Recently, she completed public artworks Inhabitance for the Portland International Airport, Schema for CitizenM Pioneer Square, and Antecedents for the University of Washington. She has created large-scale interactive installations and site-specific pieces throughout North America working with the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4Culture, Regional Arts and Culture Council, ArtsWa, Museum of Art & History Santa Cruz, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, City of Tacoma, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Washington, Wellin Museum, College of New Jersey, and Northeastern University.
Schema: ”A large-scale graphic mural that features an abstract map depicting layers of Seattle’s early history and idiosyncrasies. The artwork, composed as a vibrant grid, engages the aesthetic structure and color palette of turn-of-the-century Native American beadwork.“
Inhabitance: “A series of three interconnected artworks highlights the diversity and significance of Pacific Northwest biomes. The Sentinels feature portraits of the land from Oregon’s astounding number of biomes, including a coastal beach, prairie, rainforest, desert, and alpine mountains. The Habitat Tiles conjure the textures of these habitats, the undulating curves of the waterline, arcs of long grass, vertical stripes of tree trunks, cracks of dried desert clay and craggy peaks of the mountain line. Overlooking is Cloudwalk, a rainbow-infused sky dappled with gently roiling geometric clouds inset amongst a series of petroglyph-inspired closed eyes.”
Antecedents: “A set of five lightboxes blending inspiration from scientific practice, concepts rooted in Plateau origin stories, and ruminations on our relationships with the lifeforms and ecosystems with which we share the world. The work illuminates symbolic facets of the living world whose health is intrinsically connected to our own, reminding us of our vulnerability within the larger kinship of life.”
Ghost Coyote: “The Trickster depicted in his ephemeral state between death and resurrection. Coyote was gifted immortality by Sweatlodge so that he might continue his important work in perpetuity: slaying monsters and preparing the world for two-legged people. Scattered across the bottom of the glass vessel are his remains, the vehicle of his immortality, which Fox can jump over five times to bring him back to life. Floating above is Coyote, in spirit form, impatiently awaiting his restoration.”