Meet Courtney Ryan | Professor of Foundation Studies, SCAD University

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Ryan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk for me is not something that I see as an ordeal meant to be overcome, but instead a regular part of an active artist’s studio process. Risk means exploration, and saying yes even when you don’t necessarily have the skills to do something, because without risk the mystic of what “could happen” in your artwork fades away. That might be cliche, but I give risk taking credit for where I am today in my career as an artist. To make all this make sense, some backstory is necessary in terms of my trajectory to my current career as a Professor of Foundation Studies at Savannah College of Art and Design, SCAD, in Atlanta, GA.

When I graduated undergrad, I was one of a misfit crew of six students who earned a BFA from Columbus State University in Columbus, GA. A wonderful university full of expansive windows filled with light on the riverfront, the downtown campus had a collection of professors that I hold in the highest respect. Each taught me what it means to push boundaries in the studio in their own quirky way and how to take manageable risks as a young artist. The McFalls duo pushed and pulled me to do more in my work. To go bigger and more expansive in print-making and sculpture. Komatsu made me fight the traditions of ceramics with plaster cast spam-cans and wobbly cups without properly carved feet. Israel made me think, and think hard about what I wanted to say in my work. And Fuqua took me abroad on what would become a life altering resume-line for my future.

Our small group of six called our senior thesis “And It Was Good” for two reasons; one because we found the title on the wall of a wooden studio panel divider the day the show title was due for vinyl cutting, and two, because we believed that our prospects after graduating were truly going to be good. Little did we know that finding a job in the arts that May would end up being one of the most difficult hurdles of all our careers, especially mine, because I almost left the arts entirely for lack of income. At just barely twenty-two years old with a fresh degree under my belt, I found myself in what felt like a never-ending loop of disappointment. I couldn’t get my foot in the door in graduate school or residencies for lack of experience, and I couldn’t get the experience I needed because I lacked the coveted “resume lines”. As a result, I spent a little over two years post-graduation working with various artist communities while holding multiple full-time day-jobs to pay the bills. Denial letter after denial letter, I kept pushing.

Museum work, pop-up art shows, children’s classes, and anything else I could get into became my fuel, and I often said yes to work that I had no right in saying yes to because more often than not it was my first time doing it. I would recommend this to any young artist starting out, that they should say yes to opportunities, and learn to ignore the denial letters for residencies, graduate schools, etc. As long as the opportunity continued to support my long-term goals, which at the time I knew at the time was art-related but necessarily teaching, and didn’t take advantage of my artistic abilities, I would say yes. Additionally, when I left the safety and stability of the undergraduate school setting, it was very important that I continued working on my studio practice and kept making art. Without it, I would not have made the work that eventually got me into a graduate program at Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro, GA.

As a sculptor and ceramicist, I didn’t have access to the same facilities and tools as I did while in school, so I started to make paintings in my apartment, a huge risk considering I was not a painter. Piece after piece I forced myself to make work outside my true interest and comfort zone for a little over two years, and in my letters of intent to graduate school I would write “I’m making paintings but I don’t want to paint when I get to grad school”. Eventually this caught the eye of a graduate coordinator at Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro, GA and I was invited to come out to interview. Suddenly I’d made it to the next level and was accepted on a work-based scholarship as a ceramicist who had applied with paintings. It was one of the biggest risks I had taken, and that someone had taken on me at that moment in my art career.

My acceptance into graduate school made the next 3 years fly by. I starting working as a TA and Studio Tech as part of my paid assistantship and that afforded me the opportunity to not only learn how to teach others, but focus on my artwork and pay bills. Additionally, because I’d been abroad when I was in undergrad, it later helped me apply for a teaching residency in Ireland, which I achieved not once, but twice. Although I had never been, I went and presented at conferences such as SECAC, CAA, SLSA, and FATE, mixing and mingling with professionals in their field from universities worldwide. I submitted my work to magazines I liked to read hoping for a feature, sent emails to galleries I followed and showed up at their openings, and made my way regularly to events like Miami Art Basel and the even the Venice Biennale while in school. Towards the end however, the same realization I had when I reached the end of undergrad started to creep in. What happens next? What does life after grad school look like? For me and my peers that meant more applications and pending denial letters or worse, never hearing back at all. This time I was not applying for an art job, so much as the illusive teaching job. For a graduate student, the risks associated with a new teaching job come with uncertainty in pay, location, benefits, and slim commitment from the school if they hire you for a lecture or adjunct position. Most of my peers who landed teaching jobs worked as adjuncts at more than one university for a while until they were offered more consistent work, or they ultimately left the field of teaching for other opportunities.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
After 89 applications to teach at universities around the globe, I heard back from the facilities department at Florida State University, in Tallahassee, FL. I packed my bags one week and a day after graduation, and moved to Florida to start my new job not in an art department teaching, not as an adjunct, or even a lecturer; instead it was technically with the Grounds and Landscaping Crew at FSU, working in an auxiliary department called Master Craftsman Studio as a studio technician. I wore grey t-shirts that said “Grounds” on them and I drove a facilities truck around campus. It was an risky adventure I wouldn’t trade for the world! While there I taught student interns how to make stained glass windows, and work with clients on big projects for the campus such as cast bronze sculpture and public installation art in the city. Coincidently it’s also where I met my then boyfriend, and now husband, and fellow artist.

The position at FSU allowed me the opportunity to work at a well-known university right out of school and skip the adjunct gambit all together, even though I felt the pains of imposter syndrome while performing my duties from time to time. Luckily my trusted mentors checked in often and reminded me of the phrase “fake it till you make it” which are words of wisdom to live by. I worked at FSU for a little over a year and a half and had a few interviews sprinkled about for adjunct positions, but I turned them down in hopes of greener pastures. Eventually, I was interviewed and hired on at SCAD’s Atlanta Campus in the Foundation Studies department to teach design and color theory. Who could have foreseen that in my 3rd quarter at the university, we’d go fully virtual because of a global pandemic? I sure didn’t, but I’m fortunate that my university was prepared for the task and I’ve loved every moment of it since my hire date. I still do all the same things I did while in undergrad and grad school in terms of applying to “all of the things”, but now with more intention and assurance, instead of what I used to feel was blind risk. At SCAD, I finally feel as though I’ve made it to where I’m supposed to be at this moment in my career, teaching art to hungry students who are just like me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Best place to get work done on the computer is Victory Coffee Bar in Dekalb Ave. They have excellent bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits which are to die for with a cup of coffee and high speed internet. Another great spot is Kirkwood Taproom Coffee, for a bite to eat and good atmosphere for digital working. I enjoy going to both of these places to hang out, and to get some grading done outside of work.

I’d also have to take friends to White Space Gallery for the current show. It’s always changing, and something’s always new. We’d probably go check out Swan Coach House too while we were out and about. Lastly, if Hambridge was having an event, or an auction, we’d go there too (but this is a rare treat).

Breakfast is my fav, and I bring all my friends to Sun in my Belly in Kirkwood, which is near our home in south Decatur/Belvedere Park.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate this shoutout to my undergraduate and graduate instructors for all their efforts in assuring me I was headed in the right direction, even in my doubts. These people include Jessica Burke and Jason Hoelscher for teaching me how to teach, Jason McCoy for showing me how to run a studio, and Juile McGuire for keeping me hungry for new art. In undergrad Libby McFalls and Mike McFalls for always making me go larger in my ideas, Hannah Israel for teaching me how to think hard, and Kariann Fuqua for opening my world to places beyond my hometown.

Website: www.courtneynryan.com

Instagram: @courtneynryan

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneynryan