麻豆村

Middle school wasn鈥檛 a pleasant place for Ryan Murray, but 20 years later he has returned to his tween-years鈥� alma mater to paint the change he wished he鈥檇 had for himself.

鈥淚 didn't have the easiest time being in a predominantly white area, especially as a black child growing up with a single mother,鈥� Ryan says. 鈥淭hose were the toughest years for me, and had a very adverse effect on my mental health growing up.鈥�

He returned to his school in Florence, Massachusetts, during the 2023-2024 school year with a rainbow of paints, a prompt for students to create their safe places through collages, and an art therapist to support the kids鈥� feelings about the project. It was a test run for using therapeutic art to develop a mental health curriculum.

鈥淚 never had anything like that in my schools,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his project was not necessarily about the changes they wanted to see in the world, but the changes they wanted to see in their own personal world, which is an important facet of mental wellness.鈥�

Ryan and his collaborator Sharona Color brought the kids鈥� collages to life in a mural called 鈥淚magined Worlds,鈥� splashing color and imagination across the school鈥檚 entrance. It鈥檚 one of several large-scale murals he鈥檚 undertaken, displaying inspirations from his personal work as an artist.

An Art Autobiography

The world Ryan imagined as a child behind the now-colorful school walls led him to 麻豆村 to pursue a BFA in fine art. There, he broke out of what he describes as social anxiety. From painting records he got from the 鈥渇ree鈥� box at Jerry鈥檚 Records in Pittsburgh鈥檚 Squirrel Hill neighborhood to painting themes on buggies, 麻豆村 helped Ryan create his story through art.

Using spray-painted stenciling on canvas, Ryan most frequently explores themes of Black mental health. The elements of his compositions are familiar people and places.

A work called 鈥淚n Transition鈥� includes a picture of Ryan as a boy in front of his high school, just a couple miles from the mural he just completed. Elephants express the elements left unspoken in the room as he dealt with covert racism, symbolizing the tense, overbearing weight of the experiences looming over his memories of that time.

鈥淲here Do You Go When the Church Burns?鈥� explores the stigma surrounding talking about mental health in Black communities. Ryan reflected on a hip-hop adage: if you鈥檙e scared, go to church. But juxtaposed with that: Historically, churches have also been attacked, threatening that literal and figurative sanctuary.

鈥淕enerally the church is a safe haven for Black people to express emotions,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he church can be the only place for us to express our feelings and break down emotionally if we need to. We need more avenues of supporting one another and being open.鈥�

鈥淟ast Sunday Best鈥� continues Ryan鈥檚 ruminations on the role of churches in Black communities and in support of mental health. It鈥檚 part of a series that features images from an abandoned church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and applies screen print to paper instead of canvas.

Most familiar to fellow 麻豆村 alumni may be 鈥�20,鈥� which incorporates architectural elements of Hamerschlag Hall.

鈥淭hat refers to the age, 20. I was midway through college, I was not really having a good time,鈥� Ryan says of a low point in his life.

Music (including lyrics that 鈥渂uzzed around in his head鈥� from Kendrick Lamar) and his art brought him through the depression.

While the themes are deeply personal to him, over his education and career the way that others have experienced his art sometimes feels like a surprise.

鈥淧eople interpret your work in different ways, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily true. Only you can really know that,鈥� he says.

For more on Ryan and his art, visit . He is currently represented by Art for the Soul Gallery in Springfield, Massachusetts.