
Pull Quote
My work traverses the boundaries of digital and tactile materials and processes. Visual spectacle serves as an entry point to provoke thought and reflection—to move towards and embrace complexity and uncertainty.

Biography
R Y A N L E W I S | | |
[lives & works - Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA]
RYAN LEWIS is an animator, graphic designer, artist, and design educator based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. His moving image work has been screened at galleries and festivals nationally and internationally at venues such as MCAD in Minneapolis, UMASS Boston, MICA Place in Baltimore, RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, UICA in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Indianapolis Art Center, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, the South Bend Museum of Art, CICA Museum in South Korea, Photometria in Motion festival in Greece, the International Motion Festival in Cyprus, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Serbia. Ryan is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at the Gwen Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University. In professional practice, Ryan has designed for the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and Henry Schein, Inc. Ryan earned an MFA from the Ohio University School of Art + Design and a BFA from Utah State University.
Artist Statement
I seek to surprise and delight viewers and challenge their preconceptions through stop-motion animated videos. My work traverses the boundaries of digital and tactile materials and processes. My process and craft are heavily informed by my experience as a graphic designer and type designer, sometimes incorporating letterforms or font technologies, printed materials, and digital tools. Visual spectacle serves as an entry point to provoke thought and reflection—to move towards and embrace complexity and uncertainty.
Everted Sanctuaries is a series of stop-motion animated video works exploring the topic of introversion. Found objects are transformed to reveal complexities that often go unnoticed below the surface. The strains and stresses of transformation form a methodical performance where brokenness and adaptation are indistinguishable. The transformed objects become metaphors for the often uncomfortable process of becoming temporarily extroverted. Ubiquitous exteriors part to reveal intricate interiors—beautiful, but unintended consequences of the contortions necessary to fit in. Everted Sanctuaries demonstrates the remarkable flexibility of introverts and asks viewers to consider the depth and vulnerability concealed beneath silent surfaces.
They the People invite reconsideration of a familiar national symbol. Symbols come with intended messages, but their most enduring associations accumulate over time. Symbols are not content but are instead vessels in which content is stored. As designer Paul Rand said: “It is only by association…that a logo [symbol] takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes.” Meanings come and go. They amass in rich, messy, complicated, diverse, beautiful layers. Symbols inevitably represent lived realities rather than lofty ideals. Stop-motion animated fibers form a fragile, loosely connected fabric that precariously hovers between order and chaos. This delicate vision is obscured and disrupted by fields of texture formed with repurposed digital symbols. We are reminded that symbols are what we make them—they can represent our ideals and successes, but also our collective failures, insensitivities, overconfidence, and divisions.
CV
EDUCATION
2013 MFA Graphic Design, Ohio University School of Art + Design, Athens, OH
2004 BFA Graphic Design, Summa Cum Laude, Utah State University, Logan, UT
2002 Summer Design Academy in Switzerland, Utah State University, Leysin, Switzerland
EXHIBITIONS/SCREENINGS/FESTIVALS
2023 Reflections 2023, International Juried Exhibition Online Curve Gallery, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD
2023 Hacking the Library, National Juried Exhibition, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, WV
2023 Kinetic, International Juried Exhibition, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South, Yarmouth, MA
2023 Embodied Knowledge, National Juried Exhibition, Ely Center of Contemporary Art New Haven, CI
2022 (un)Common Threads, National Juried Exhibition of contemporary fiber art, Carlisle Arts Learning Center Upper Gallery, Carlisle, PA
2022 KinoDrome Film Festival, International Short Film Festival Cleveland, Ohio
2022 INT'L All Media, International Juried Exhibition, Walter Piehl Gallery, Northwest Arts Center Minot State University, Minot, ND
2022 Axis Gallery 17th Annual Juried Exhibition, National Juried Exhibition Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2022 3rd Coast Biennial, National Juried Exhibition, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX
2022 Consciousness of Abstraction: Beyond Literal Appearance II, National Juried Exhibition ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
2022 Weird Media, International Juried Exhibition, Laird-Norton Gallery, Winona State University
2022 And All of a Sudden, International Juried Exhibition, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2022 Strange Paradise: A Window into Surrealism, National Juried Exhibition, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD
2022 Tip of the Tongue, National Juried Exhibition Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
2022 Moving Image Arts, International Short Film Festival, Ryerson University, School of Image Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2022 Fantastic Fibers, International Juried Exhibition Yeiser Art Center, Paducah KY
2021 Absurd Art House Film Festival, International Film Festival, The Criterion Blue Town Cinema & Music Hall Blue Town, Kent, United Kingdom
2021 Video Hackers Film Festival International Online Film Festival Novi Ligure, AL, Italy
2021 Mobile Animation Film Festival, National / United States Animation Category Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, Alabama
2021 Glitch is the Soul in the Machine, iDMAa International Traveling Juried Exhibition Laird Norton Center for Art & Design, Winona State University Minneapolis College of Art & Design
2021 Lost Words, International Juried Exhibition, Best Gallery, Northwind Art, Port Townsend, WA
2021 Reel Art, International Juried Exhibition of Short Films, Vault Gallery, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South, Yarmouth, MA
2021 Berlin Flash Film Festival, International Juried Online Short Film Screening Series Berlin, Germany
2021 That Which Surrounds You International Juried Online Exhibition, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA
2020 XVI Festival Transterritorial de Cine Underground, International Film Festival, Argentina "Buenos Aires, Quilmes, Rosario, Cusco, Asunción, Bogotá, Los Angeles, London
2020 Film and Video Poetry Symposium International Film Festival, Week 1: Time Machines, Film and Video Poetry Society Gallery Los Angeles, CA
2020 Americas 2020: All Media, National Juried Exhibition, Walter Piehl Gallery, Northwest Arts Center Minot State University, Minot, ND
2020 $5 Video, National Juried Exhibition, Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX
2020 Biblio Spectaculum, National Juried Exhibition, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
2020 33rd September Competition, National Juried Exhibition, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
2020 On the Surface, National Juried Exhibition, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
2020 Art from the Heartland, Midwest Regional Juried Exhibition Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN
2017 GALEX 54 National Juried Exhibition, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg IL
2020 Automated, Fringe Arts Bath, contemporary visual arts festival* Bath, England, UK
2020 Nur Box Theatre Year Round Film Festival, Nur Box Theatres, Contemporary Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2020 Red Finch Film Festival, Red Finch Gallery, Orem, UT
2019 Altered Esthetics Film Festival, Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis, MN
2019 was it worth it? RedLine's 6th Annual Juried Exhibition, National Juried Exhibition, RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver, CO
2019 Therefore, I Am, National Juried Exhibition Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
2019 Opposites, National Juried Exhibition, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
2019 Bound and Unbound V, International Juried Exhibition, University Libraries, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD
2019 Breaching the Margins, National Juried Exhibition, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA) Grand Rapids, MI
2019 Our Words Will Still Be Heard National Juried Exhibition MICA Place, Baltimore MD
2019 Delete TV, season 2019, Vienna, Austria
2019 International Motion Festival, Cyprus, European University, Nicosia, Cyprus
2019 Movement, National Juried Exhibition, Jodee Harris Gallery, Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA
2019 Freedom: Art as the Messenger, National Juried Exhibition, 1000 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC
2019 Revolutions per Minute Festival (RPM Fest), University Hall Art Gallery, UMASS Boston, Dorchester, MA
2018 The Shape of Change, National Juried Exhibition, Cade Art Gallery, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, MD
2018 Frostic School of Art Faculty Exhibition, Monroe-Brown Gallery, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
2018 Everted Sanctuaries, Solo Exhibition, Frontier Space Contemporary Art Gallery, Missoula, MT
2018 Juxtaposed, National Juried Exhibition, Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
2018 64 Arts National Juried Exhibition, Buchanan Center for the Arts, Monmouth, IL
2018 13th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2018 Aggregate Animated Shorts, 2nd Annual Film Festival, National Juried Exhibition Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018 Cones & Rods, National Juried Exhibition Whitdel Arts, Detroit, MI
2018 Techne, National Juried Exhibition, Arthaus Projects, Williamsport, PA
2018 Fine Arts Exhibition, 2018 Decatur Arts Festival, National Juried Exhibition, Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
2018 Art and Fear, National Juried Exhibition, Arts Council of Southeast Missouri Cape Girardeau, MO
2018 First Date, Automat Collective, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Ryan Lewis: Everted Sanctuaries, solo exhibition, Visiting Artist Series John Sloan Art Gallery, Sloan Fine Arts Center Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA
2018 At the Surface, National Juried Exhibition, Foundry Art Center, St. Charles, MO
2018 95th Annual All Media Exhibition, Regional Juried Exhibition, Ann Arbor Arts Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2017 Interstate, National Juried Exhibition, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, University of Central Washington Ellensburg, Washington
2017 Precision, 8th Annual International Juried Exhibition, A.D. Gallery, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
2017 Off The Wall, Nighttime, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI
2017 Videomedeja, International Video Art Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia
2017 Shout!, National juried exhibition, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
2017 GALEX 54 National Juried Exhibition, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg IL
2017 secac, Juried Exhibition, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH
2017 Art Prize 2017, WMU Grand Rapids Juried Venue, Grand Rapids, MI
2017 Biennial 29, Warner Gallery, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
2017 Project Free, sipma contemporary, The Printmaking Center of NJ, Branchburg, NJ
2017 Another's Treasure 2017, The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, Evansville, IN
2017 Annual Contemporary Art Survey, The Lincoln Center Art Galleries, Fort Collins, CO
2017 Serial Box Project, Serial Box Video Screening Space, Serial Box Projects, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
2017 The Video Show: 4th International Exhibition of Video & Digital Media Installation, Raritan Valley Community College Art Gallery, North Branch, NJ
2017 Give Me Some Space, Charles W. and Norma C. Carroll Gallery, Marshall University, Huntington, WV
2017 Portrait, CICA Museum 시카미술관, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
2016 Frostic School of Art Faculty Exhibition, Monroe-Brown Gallery, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
2016 iDEAS 2016 Exhibition, iDMAa 2016 conference, Tau Center and Laird Norton Building, Winona, MN
2016 Art Prize 2016, wmu Grand Rapids Juried Venue, Grand Rapids, MI
2016 Third Coast National, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX
2016 ReMIX, Sweetwater Center for the Arts, Sewickley, PA
2016 Boundaries, Galletta Gallery, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA
2016 Flow, Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA
2016 Art + Science, Tom Thomas Gallery, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN
2016 Boundaries, Borders, and Thresholds, Kreft Juried National Exhibition, Kreft Gallery at Concordia University, Ann Arbor, MI
2016 SYNESTHETICA, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2016 53rd Annual Juried Competition, Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
2016 Intimate Systems, Level 6 Gallery at 100 State, Madison, WI
2016 Alter + Combine, Metrospace, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
2015 Who Might I Be? Pretending, Disguise & Elusion, Nave Gallery Annex, Somerville, MA
2015 Body and Mind, Sulfur Studios, Savannah, GA
2015 Artists’ Books 2015, Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
2015 Art Prize 2015, wmu Grand Rapids Juried Venue, Grand Rapids, MI
2015 Time | Place, Lansing Art Gallery, Lansing, MI
2015 feast: hunger + pleasure + ritual, Loudoun House Gallery, Lexington Art League, Lexington, KY
2015 Borders and Boundaries, Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
2014 Frostic School of Art Faculty Exhibition, Monroe-Brown Gallery, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
2014 Art Prize 2014, wmu Grand Rapids Juried Venue, Grand Rapids, MI
2014 Unleashed, Annex @ Core Gallery, Denver, CO
2013 Frostic School of Art Faculty Exhibition, Monroe-Brown Gallery, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
2013 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Solo Exhibition, Ohio University Art Gallery, Athens, OH
2012 ougd 50/20: 50 Handmade Books from the Past 20 Years at Ohio University, Ohio University Art Gallery, Athens, OH
2011 Second-Year Graduate Student Exhibition, Ohio University Art Gallery, Athens, OH
2011 First-Year Graduate Student Exhibition, Trisolini Gallery, Ohio University, Athens, OH
CV CONT'D
AWARDS/GRANTS/RECOGNITION
2022 Honorable Mention, Strange Paradise: A Window into Surrealism, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD
2020 Merit Award, Americas 2020: All Media, Walter Piehl Gallery, Northwest Arts Center Minot State University, Minot, ND
2020 Honorable Mention, 33rd September Competition, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
2020 Best in Show, $5 Video, National Juried Exhibition, Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX
2020 Juror's Prize, On the Surface, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
2020 Merit Award, GALEX 54, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg IL
2019 Third Place, Freedom: Art as the Messenger, 1000 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC
2019 Juror's Prize, Opposites, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
2018 Best Non-Narrative Animation, Aggregate Animated Shorts Film Festival, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018 Best Sound Design, Aggregate Animated Shorts Film Festival, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018 Third Place, Techne, Arthaus Projects, Williamsport, PA
2018 Second Place, 2018 Decatur Arts Festival National Juried Exhibition, Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
2017 Second Place, Precision, A.D. Gallery, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
2017 Purchase Award, Biennial 29, Warner Gallery, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
2017 First Place, Another's Treasure 2017, The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana Evansville, IN
2017 Frostic School of Art Faculty Development Grant, Western Michigan University
2017 Publication of Papers and Exhibition of Creative Works Fund, Western Michigan University
2016 Fourth Place, Third Coast National juried exhibition, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX
2015 Mark Mehaffey & Sue Holmes Creativity Award, Time | Place, Lansing Art Gallery
2015 Frostic School of Art Faculty Development Grant, Western Michigan University
2015 Publication of Papers and Exhibition of Creative Works Fund, Western Michigan University
2014 Honorable Mention, Unleashed, Annex @ Core Gallery, Denver, CO
2013 mags distinguished nominee for Graphic Design Area, School of Art + Design, Ohio University
PUBLISHED WORKS
2019 Illustrations For Everyday Media Literacy: An Analog Guide For Your Digital Life, "An Accessible Graphic Guide To Media Literacy Addressing How To Consume And Create Media Intentionally And Critically".
2017 "Everted Sanctuaries: Visualizing Introversion", International Journal Of The Image Volume 8, Issue 1
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2019 Freedom: Art as the Messenger, 1000 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC
2016 Manifest Exhibition Annual Season 12, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2016 Art + Science, Exhibition Catalogue, Indiana University East
2016 Alter + Combine, Exhibition Catalogue, Michigan State University Department of Art, Art History, and Design
2015 Time | Place, Exhibition Catalogue, Lansing Art Gallery
PRESS
2017 Kalamazoo Lively Arts, WGYU
2017 "Art Prize 9: The Juror's Shortlist", Everted Sanctuaries IV shown on wmu's Art Prize on Wood TV8
2017 "Attend: OFF THE WALL, NIGHT ONE at Arts + Literature Laboratory" by James Kreul, Madison Film Forum
2017 "SIPMA Contemporary holding juried art exhibit in Branchburg" by Linda Schmidt, Hunterdon County Democrat
2016 "Reuse Gets Upscale Treatment at Sweetwater Center for the Arts", by Kurt Shaw, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
ARTISTS LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS
2021 Everted Sanctuaries VI: merging virtual and physical animation, iDMAa Conference “Broken Media” Winona State University, Winona, MN
2020 Artist Talk, Biblio Spectaculum, Biblio Spectaculum at Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
2018 ArtTalk, Public lecture, Millikan Art Resource Center, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
2018 Visiting Artist Lecture, public lecture about Everted Sanctuaries, Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA
2018 Everted Sanctuaries: Stop-Motion Process, Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA
2017 Applying User-centered Design to a General Education Text, Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters Annual Conference Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
2015 Everted Sanctuaries: Visualizing Introversion, Sixth Annual International Conference on the Image, Berkeley CA
2014 Recent Design and Process, Public lecture, University of Minnesota, Duluth
2014 Recent Design and Process, Public lecture, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg
2013 Recent Design and Process, Public lecture, Minnesota State University, Mankato
2013 Recent Design and Process, Public lecture, Texas State University, San Marcos
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
AIGA, The Professional Association For Design
CAA, College Art Association
SECAC, South Eastern College Art Conference
The Image Knowledge Community