Ryder is the first clay artist to go through the EMERGE Artist in Residence program. In addition to ceramics he also makes block prints and drawings and uses patterns from his drawings in his clay work. Ryder holds a BA in Art and Entrepreneurship from USM and is formally trained in ceramics and printmaking. The hardest part of the transition from student to working artist has been time. Ryder feels he is not creating as much art because he no longer has assignments and he struggles with the loss of prompts and purpose. “But in the short time that I have been out of school, I have gained much insight into why I create,” making art allows Ryder to show his true self and his inspiration is directly related to the stage of life he is in. Now that he’s graduated, he no longer feels competitive or that his art needs to change the world. Now he is focused on creating for himself and has experienced a calmness of being. Ryder is driven to learn new things by what he calls “an overwhelming sense of existential curiosity”, which is a reciprocal relationship between curiosity and learning for Ryder. Art has been a liberating journey for him to learn who he is and the expressive tools he has learned from art have assisted this practice of curiosity, “The reason I make art now is to develop my skills, learn more about how I see the world, and transpose it to my creations.” He likes to focus on the duality of things.
The emerge program has taught Ryder how to see his artistic future more clearly, “Having a residency at RWS with tools, materials, and space has given me an honest and sober perspective on how my practice will develop moving forward.” Ryder came into the program expecting to be ‘knee-deep in clay’. Being at the studios and seeing the work of others has been inspiring but he has put an inordinate amount of pressure on himself and expectations in building his practice. After the program he is looking forward to living his life and seeing where it takes him. He is in a position to recalibrate his creative goals and just wants to keep practicing. See more depictions of Ryder's work on Instagram (@thrckmvrtn) and doradoe.com.