Artist Statement
Katie Ryan is a visual artist who works through a combination of theoretical research and intuitive experimentation with materials. Born in Ireland, she has been living and working in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, since 2013. Her work is concerned with modes of understanding, looking in particular at the connection between language-based cognition and embodiment. Working sculpturally, she considers the body as a site from which to extrapolate ideas relating to individualism, value and power.
She completed a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours at The Victorian College of the Arts in 2017. Katie was the Organisation Coordinator at KINGS Artist-Run from 2021 until 2023. Her most recent projects include ‘The roles are a drag’ (2023) a solo exhibition at Working at Heights in Northcote; Co-curating ‘Other Body Knowledge’ (2022), a public program and exhibition on disability informed art practice and accessibility, in partnership with disabled artist Jane Trengove; ‘A message in the collar’ (2019), a group exhibition developed in collaboration with Jeremy Eaton as part of HoBiennale; and ‘Dissecting a violin body’ (2019), solo exhibition of sculptural works at Bus Projects in Collingwood.
Education:
2017 BA Fine Arts (Visual Art) Honours, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank, Victoria
2014 -2016 BA Fine Arts (Sculpture and Spatial Practice), Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank, Victoria
Solo Exhibitions:
2024 A handshake is reversible, TCB Art Inc., Brunswick, Victoria
2023 An anatomy of double vision, mono, Lisbon, Portugal, Australia
2023 The roles are a drag, Working At Heights, Northcote, Victoria
2019 Dissecting a violin body, Bus Projects, Collingwood, Victoria
2016 Domain, Kings Artist-Run Initiative, Melbourne, Victoria
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2019 A message in the collar, Town Hall Underground, Hobart (as part of HoBiennale)
2019 M_othering the perceptual are poetica, The Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Victoria
2018 Degrees of Separation, C3 Contemporary Art space, Abbotsford, Victoria
2018 Fog then sunny, Artery Co-operative Limited, Northcote, Victoria
2018 New Perspectives, Crowther Contemporary, Docklands, Victoria
2017 VCA Graduate Exhibition, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank, Victoria
2017 Objective Memory, KINGS Artist-Run Initiative, Melbourne, Victoria
2017 Implicit/Explicit, Bus Projects, Collingwood, Victoria
Curatorial Projects:
2022 Other Body Knowledge: Contending with the mythic norm, (Exhibition), KINGS Artist-Run
2022 Other Body Knowledge, (Public Program Series) in collaboration in Jane Trengove, KINGS Artist-Run
2021 Accumulates in the throat, emerges from the mouth, KINGS Artist-Run, West Melbourne
2020 It Comes in Waves, Conversation series in collaboration with the Women’s Art Register, online
2020 Live From the Field, Blog in collaboration with KINGS Artist-Run, online
2019 A message in the collar, Town Hall Underground, Hobart (as part of HoBiennale)
2018 Dissident Assemblies, KINGS Artist-Run Initiative, Melbourne
2018 Fog then sunny, Artery Co-operative Limited, Northcote, Victoria
2017 Elapse, Rosny School House Gallery, Hobart (as part of the HoBiennale)
2017 Objective Memory, KINGS Artist-Run Initiative, Melbourne
Grants, Awards, Residencies:
2023 mono Summer Residency, mono, Lisbon, Portugal
2022 City of Melbourne Annual Arts Grant
2022 Australia Council Arts Project Grant
2021 Australia Council Arts and Disability Peer-to-Peer Mentorship
2017 University of Melbourne Student Union Creative Arts Grant
2017 Finalist, Fortyfivedownstairs Emerging Artist Award
2016 Rob Ramage Sculpture Prize, VCA Graduate Exhibition
2016 Judges award for sculpture, Proud, The Margaret Lawrence Gallery