Viewing Rooms

Through sculpture, lens-based work, textile art, and site-specific installations, she emulates material culture and organic artifacts. Often replicating objects that symbolize high status—such as rugs, chandeliers, garments, and houseplants—Ryals subverts embedded notions of value and waste by incorporating cheap, found, and recycled materials.

Working across photography, printmaking, craft-based assemblage, and molding & casting, she directly engages with perceptions of authenticity, taste, and hierarchy. Raised in suburban Arkansas and the rural Cajun Acadiana region of Louisiana, Ryals’ artistic practice was shaped by time spent rummaging through thrift stores, daydreaming in ornate Catholic churches, and wandering forests, swamps, and gardens on her family’s farm. These experiences continue to inform her fascination with the aesthetics of excess, preservation, and decay.

Susan Stewart's paintings serve as a canvas to transform and reinterpret her most poignant memories. Focused on achieving harmony between color, movement, shape, and rhythm, her work often draws from music, society, and nature. Her pieces encourage viewers to reflect on the complexities of human existence, blending elements of the past into dreamlike, fabricated memories.

Beyond the visual realm, Susan's artistic goal is to encapsulate these stories, creating modified reminders of her life experiences and souvenirs. With her direct, primitive freshness and use of Fauvist color, Susan wants to create a world that “enhances the life” of others. Often bringing the spectators to ask
themselves questions around the events occurring in the painting, involving the viewer mentally as well as visually. Her artistic approach involves rearranging "old" memories to craft new narratives. Drawing inspiration from her past, Susan explores specific individuals and moments, often reinterpreting her own photos to suit a new vision. Her work integrates a thoughtful study of art history, influenced by dance, literature, music, and painting, with artists like Peter Doig, Matthew Wong, and David Hockney serving as inspiration.

Viewing Rooms

Kat Ryals: Ornamenta

Hayley Youngs: Liqueflora

Coda

Tiantian Lou: Alternative Monumentality

'Brohibited' curated by Abigail Knight & Maria Martin

Rachel Hayden: Serene Disruption

Hannah Antalek & Amelia Carley: Chimera

Jack Boucher: Duality of Man

Larissa Laban: Umwelt

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