Ryan Mitchell

American artist Ryan Matthew Mitchell has travelled throughout China and Asia to create artwork, exhibit and curate arts projects after graduating with an MFA in 2007 from the University of Montana. Mitchell is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. He currently lives in Jingdezhen China where he maintains his own studio and works with the International ceramics programs of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute. Aside from numerous exhibitions in the United States, China, Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia; Mitchell is the first foreign artist to have a solo exhibition at the China Jingdezhen Ceramics Museum.

Artist Biography

Creative Concept:

For Mitchell, the ceramic material is a platform to display and record aspects of nature. From the flowing and erosive nature glazes on clay, porcelain and sand, to the brittle breaking nature of porcelain, Mitchell sculpts evocative narratives between imagery and materiality with are both contemporary and historical. 
The deer is a common theme found throughout Mitchell’s work, inspired by the Jataka tales origin story of the Buddha, where a golden deer offers his own sacrifice in the place of others who have wronged him. Mitchell addresses the origins of (祿) “good fortune” to the deer and its symbolisms and contents in contemporary material society.

For more information about the artists and their work please contact the curator Caroline Cheng:macau2019@potteryworkshop.com.cn