May 24, 2011
Ryman Arts Classes Moving to Otis; Classes Now on Sundays
We are pleased to announce a dynamic new collaboration between Ryman Arts and Otis College of Art and Design. Beginning September 2011, Ryman Arts classes will move to the Otis campus in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles, and classes will switch to Sundays. Our acclaimed program will continue, enhanced by its location on the campus of a major college of art and design.
We are thrilled to work with Otis and the terrific professionals there, led by President Sammy Hoi. This collaboration is especially exciting because it offers our students the opportunity to be inspired and learn in a creative environment devoted to art and design.
We extend our deep appreciation to the University of Southern California for hosting our classes for the past 17 years. It all began with an invitation from former Dean Ruth Weisberg who was impressed by an exhibition of our students’ artwork in 1994. Thank you to all our colleagues at USC!
Applications for Fall 2011 are being accepted now. Learn more about applying to Ryman Arts, and download an application HERE. Applications are due June 17, 2011.
Click here to read the full press release announcing this new collaboration.
October 19, 2010
Ryman Arts Featured in Los Angles Times and Pacific Citizen
Click images below for full articles.
August 24, 2010
FIRST Big Draw LA Brings Art to Life this October
Ryman Arts Invites Angelenos to “Make Your Mark in the Park”
The inaugural The Big Draw LA event will be held during the month of October as a citywide celebration of drawing that creates opportunities for people of all ages to discover that drawing can enhance how they see, think and invent. The Big Draw LA, inspired by the highly popular United Kingdom program launched in 2000,will be the first event of its kind to take place on the West Coast. The Big Draw LA is presented by Ryman Arts—an arts education program that fosters the education of gifted young artists in Southern California.
“It’s more important than ever to make art accessible to people of all ages and walks of life,” says Diane Brigham, Executive Director of Ryman Arts. Citing the decline of arts education in schools, as well as funding cuts to local community arts organizations, she adds, “Drawing is an important tool in a variety of fields, and The Big Draw LA will get everyone—young people, professional artists, seniors, scientists and our teens—drawing together.”
As a result, The Big Draw LA will inspire Angelenos to expand the boundaries of drawing, experimenting not only with pencils, paint, charcoal and digital imagery, but also with sand, clay, choreographed movement, vapor trails—and anything else that makes a mark. For more information and to learn about drawing events throughout Los Angeles visit www.thebigdrawla.org.
Make Your Mark in the Park
Ryman Arts’ event for the month-long celebration will be the “Make Your Mark in the Park” activity. The event is being held on Sunday, October 17 at 1 p.m. in Exposition Park, in collaboration with Exposition Park, the museums in the park and the University of Southern California. Ryman Arts' students and teaching artists will help the public create a continuous drawing on paper that rolls out and winds its way around the park, through the Rose Garden, by the steps of the Natural History Museum and past the California African American Museum, around the dinosaur sculptures and past the soccer field. The continuous drawing project will be photographed and ultimately be showcased as a “scrolling panorama” online.
According to Brigham, participation in The Big Draw LA is open to organizations of all sizes and types—from established institutions to small groups—and all are invited to sponsor or organize an event during the month of October. Organizations to date who have signed up to organize their own free The Big Draw LA events include the Huntington Library, Garden and Art Collections; Skirball Cultural Center; and Fowler Museum at the University of California at Los Angeles. Organizations who are interested in participating in The Big Draw LA or sponsorship opportunities are invited to visit www.thebigdrawla.org for more Information.
About The Big Draw and The Campaign for Drawing The Big Draw was started in the UK in 2000 by the Guild of St. George, a nonprofit organization founded by 19th century artist, critic and educator John Ruskin. Now led by the Campaign for Drawing in London, the aim is to raise awareness of drawing’s power as a tool for learning, observation, creativity, and social and cultural engagement. In 2009, more than 1,300 Big Draw events took place across the UK and internationally.
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About Ryman Arts
Ryman Arts provides gifted teens the opportunity to reach their artistic potential through free high-level art education in a rigorous and nurturing studio environment. In addition to artistic training, Ryman Arts students build self-discipline and confidence, and receive college and career guidance that helps position them for success in their careers and lives. Ryman Arts currently teaches talented high school students from more than 200 schools in Southern California.
The program began in 1990 to honor the memory of legendary Disney artist and mentor Herbert D. Ryman. The core program includes sequential studio courses that emphasize advanced drawing and painting skills. Courses, taught by professional teaching artists, foster students’ artistic development and provide the knowledge they need to pursue higher education and careers in the arts.
Photos available upon request.
August 16, 2010
Harrison “Buzz” Price Dead at 89, Co-Founder of Ryman Arts
June 23, 2010
Ryman Arts and The Walt Disney Company Establish
Sklar Legacy Fund - Read more in the LA Times!
June 22, 2010
Ryman Arts and The Walt Disney Company Establish Sklar Legacy Fund
Honoring Disney Legend Marty Sklar
(PDF: 20KB)
June 17, 2010
Ryman Arts’ 2010 Graduates Showcase Artwork at the California African American Museum
(PDF: 53KB)
June 2010
Ryman Arts Board Chair and Disney Legend Marty Sklar shares his perspectives on Herb Ryman in Disney Files Magazine, Spring 2010. (click image for PDF 1.4 MB)
January 5 , 2010
This article highlights Tiffany Wang, a current student in Ryman Arts. It is published in the Chinese Daily News, the largest Chinese newspaper published in North America. Click the image below to go to the article.
November 2 , 2009
The fine art of saving jobs
Listen to a piece that aired November 2, 2009 on KPCC here!
Read the story on Los Angles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's website!
Against the vast backdrop of the federal stimulus program, $420,084 may not seem like such a massive sum.
But to Tiffany Gallindo, it’s huge. It means she can keep her job on the front lines of the Ryman Arts program, working to bring a free visual arts education and college guidance to gifted Los Angeles high school students, many of them low-income.
It means that Samuel Jang gets to continue his work as production manager for the Southwest Chamber Music Society, including helping to put together ambitious upcoming tours to Mexico and Vietnam.
And it means that Kenton J. Haleem of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum can bring back a position recently put on “hiatus”—a program manager in the organization’s media arts training program for at-risk kids.
All three organizations recently were singled out for grants of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The cash infusion comes thanks to the efforts of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, which together were able to preserve 21 positions in 16 arts organizations.
“The arts are a huge economic engine for our whole region,” says Laura Zucker, executive director of the County Arts Commission. “This is an important employer,” Zucker says, noting that the 300-plus arts organizations that are funded by the county employ more than 21,000 people.
And the importance of the organizations can be measured in more than just paychecks.
At Ryman Arts, a small nonprofit using donated studio space on the USC campus, they’re feeling the economic pains of students and recent alumni first-hand.
“Their calls and needs have been more urgent: Can we point them to more scholarship opportunities because they can’t take on more college loans? Can we arrange for them to stay after class to draw, because the electricity has been turned off at their apartment?” the organization said in its application for the grant. “Can we write another recommendation letter for a college application because they don’t have an art teacher at school?”
On the front lines is Gallindo, handling the phones, shepherding student applications, working to bring the aspiring artists and their work into the fold.
“I actually went to an arts high school,” says Gallindo, a dancer who attended Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and had been working at an insurance company before joining Ryman. “It changed my life and it opened doors. To be a part of something that is providing that opportunity to kids today is very rewarding.”
The grant “just gives us a huge sigh of relief,” says Ryman’s executive director, Diane Brigham. “With the downturn, I had to lay off another position entirely… We’re [now] a four-person organization. And I’m really glad we’re not a three-person organization.”
