We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Heimbach. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.

Hi Ryan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

In 2011, just a year after I had started learning to sculpt I created a series of sculptures called “Hands of Times”. With that series I applied to The Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach. That year I was the youngest artist to be accepted (22 yrs old) and it was then I knew I wanted to create art professionally.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was lucky enough to grow up around art. In 1995 at the age of 7 I moved to Laguna Beach with my mom and immediately noticed how much influence art had on the town. Between 2001-2008 (my teenage years) my mother owned a gallery there, which is where I got my first real taste of the Art world. At the gallery I helped out as much as I could with things like organizing the art, delivering/installing it, and minor gallery maintenance. I have had so many special moments at that gallery, the most special one is that I met my wife Kimberly there. It is also where I met Andrew Myers a local artist that mentored me and helped me come up with my first series of sculptures that I had applied to the Festival of Arts with in 2011.

Throughout the years I have constantly tried many different mediums of art, such as painting, drawing, sculpture, and even filming. I am fortunate to have many friends that specialized in all sorts of art styles and in many ways they have become mentors to me.

From time to time it is satisfying to do a charcoal drawing straight to paper and call it finished, but for me to stand out I want to tweak the pieces that Im working on in a way that is more than just a standard form. For example I try to use random patters such as the wrinkles in the paper or the grains in wood to give the piece a more natural feel and a slightly distinctive effect that catches the eye. There is a series that I call “Wrinkled Drawings”, where I wrinkle up the paper on just the inside of the portrait or subject that I am drawing and then draw with the charcoal over it. The wrinkled paper gives the drawing an almost chiseled out or sculpted effect to it when the charcoal is added after the paper is wrinkled. Another style I did is cast a sculpture I made into resin that has pieces of cut up rice paper within it. Some of my series have a narrative aspect to them for instance my “Hands of Time” series that depicts hands holding different forms of clocks with each one conveying a different time related issue or feeling. One of them is titled “Too little time” where there is a hand holding a pocket watch and the hands of the watch are breaking out the sides of the clock.

Currently I am working a new painting technique that I haven’t quite refined yet and still playing around with names for the series. The pieces will be made on wood panels and it is the wood grain that helps give the piece its final textural visual effect. Part of the paint is removed to give it a faded away look and the pattern of the wood grain gives the paint that natural feel when it stays within the individual grains.

As an artist I want to push the visual or the meaning of my work past the traditional form, at the same time still know and respect where I get inspired from. Whether it is from an old master of art or a mistake I made from a series I was in the middle of creating.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn is to not be afraid to just make something. It’s actually a lesson I continually have to unlearn. There can be many fears when it comes to making a new piece of art. Many thoughts go through my head…”what will people think, am I wasting my time, am I wasting supplies, what does this even mean, when will I know it’s finished”. There are so many other fears that can pop up, but the main thing is to push through that and get comfortable pushing through. Know that even with the “mistakes” that something can come from it by paying attention to as much as you can, because you never know when inspiration or a new idea might emerge. The series I am currently working on came from a mistake!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Figuring out the creative process for a new series is the most satisfying part. I love the hands on part of it too, although you cannot start that phase till the piece has a certain idea or visual in mind to help guide it to completion. The sale of the piece when it is finished is nice, but no where near as satisfying as coming up with the process and refining that process to make each piece after that better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ryanartwork.com
• Instagram: @ryanartwork

Image Credits

Ryan Heimbach, Baldemar Fierro