We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony Ryder and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I own a private, non-accredited art school, called the Ryder Studio, specializing in drawing and painting from life. I started it because I wanted to offer a better product than I could as an itinerate art teacher. For fifteen years I had been teaching workshops in other schools where two weeks was the length of the longest program. I wanted to offer my students more model time, longer programs, a dedicated space, better control over lighting, and instruction consistent in method and ideology.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The general category of art that I practice and teach is realist painting and drawing from the live model; the sub-category is Restructured Realism: a variety of painting, invented by Ted Seth Jacobs, with whom I studied from 1983 to 1989 in New York and France, that incorporates regard for optical truth with traditional knowledge of light and form. This is what excites me.

How did you get to where you are today?
I owe my success to Providence, faith in my teacher, and dogged persistence in doing and teaching what he taught. What about challenges? There are two ways of dealing with big waves. Some you ride out. Some you dive under. What have I learned along the way? To learn, how good it is to learn and to share what one has learned! It’s why I’m a teacher. I wish everyone knew about Restructured Realism.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d take my friend to the Grand Canyon for the week. We’d eat, drink, visit and hang out by the side of the river. We’d meet people who were fun, interesting and exciting. That would be enough.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this to my Parents, Howard L. & Natalie S. Ryder, and Grand Parents, my first mentor, Barbara Spencer (my Aunt, printmaker and sculptress), our Teacher, Ted Seth Jacobs (master painter, painting instructor and author of three books on painting and drawing), my Wife, Celeste S. Ryder (co-student with Ted, co-painter, co-teacher at the Ryder Studio), Christopher Borden (designer and painter, cdbgraft.net), Fellow Teachers, Benefactors, countless Friends, Fellow Students and Students.

Website: theryderstudio.com

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