Sleepwalking Painting

Johanna Aenderl Ryan is an emerging artist working primarily with cyanotype (a.k.a. blueprints/sun prints), monotypes, weaving, and embroidery. She approaches creating with fervor in exploring materials. While her materials might evolve, nature is always the inspiration for her work. She uses her artistic practice to reflect and strengthening her relationship with the natural world; using found materials (natural dyes, food scraps) or natural process (sunlight) to create the work. Her work holds close what is undervalued in our culture: nature, making by hand, ‘women’s work’/the domestic, not buying unnecessary materials. Johanna was born and raised in Minnesota. She spent her summers swimming in lakes, going camping, and living most of her formative years next to wetlands. A decade ago she moved to New York City and now lives in Brooklyn. Ms. Ryan started her artistic path in writing and she has worked for over a decade at nonprofits serving individuals experiencing homelessness and the formally incarcerated. During this time, she found her way back to creating – but now in the visual arts. She has collaborated on projects with artists in other disciplines; creating art for a local musician and images for filmmakers. Ms. Ryan completed a Masters in Fine Arts in 2020 and her work has been included in a dozen group shows.