M.S. (Mike) Ryan

Mike Ryan - Cedar Rapids, IA

Artist’s Statement

Born in 1947 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, M.S. (Mike) Ryan, was educated at Drake University, Old Dominion University, and the University of Iowa, earning a BFA and MA in painting. Ryan had the good fortune to study under some well-known teachers, including Leonard Good, Byron Burford, Michael Tysack, Joe Patrick and Howard Rogovin. In the intervening 40 years, Ryan has steadily worked at his craft and has become a uniquely styled voice of Midwestern landscape and figurative painting. His work is influenced by such divergent groups as the Barbizon school, the 1960 Bay Area Painters, and Wolf Kahn, as well as a host of contemporary painters.

After a short teaching career, Ryan has concentrated in producing his work and selling through a network of galleries. He is represented in collections from coast to coast. In recent years, he has been showing at a series of one-man shows at colleges and art centers in the Midwest, often giving talks in conjunction with these shows. In the last several years, he has exhibited at Kirkwood Community College, Galesburg Art Center, and Cornell College and has joined his son in a two-man show at Oasis Gallery in the Amana Colonies.