Ryan

"I've been drawing on walls ever since I could hold crayons.  In elementary school, we did lots of projects with macaroni and glue, and I'd come home and try different things with it on my own. I got in trouble all the time because I was always sticking something to something else. If I was too quiet, my mother or grandmother would come looking for me, and when they'd find me, I'd be covered in glitter and glue. 

"My mother has always been a real support to me, although there were many times she would just shake her head and say, 'My child, my child.' Still, when everyone told me I should get a certain kind of job or do this or that, she was my advocate.  'Leave her alone. Let her do what she wants,' she would say.  She accepted that I was different and always encouraged me, although every once in a while, she'd pull me aside and say, 'You'd better have a plan.'

"When I would get frustrated and upset, she would take my face in her hands and say, 'Go ahead and cry. But once you get it out, say to yourself, 'What am I going to do next? What am I going to do tomorrow?' and I could pull myself together again. I remember her doing that so many times."

Ryan Stewart has a studio at The Art Factory. She is a graphic artist and photographer as well as a maker of jewelry.
See more of her work at PrettyPurpleElephant.

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