05.20.08
Three Alumni Take Their Art on the Road
School of Art alumni Ryder Richards (2001 BFA Painting + Drawing), Jonathan Whitfill (2006 MFA Sculpture) and Piotr Chizinski (2006 BFA Sculpture), all currently living in Lubbock, have joined forces to mastermind a mobile art gallery known as the Ryder Jon Piotrs Nomadic Gallery which has appeared in Marfa, Houston, San Angelo, Wichita Falls, and Lubbock in the last year.
The creative aspect of the mobile gallery evolves from limitations or restrictions that are overcome using ingenuity. The mobile gallery started as speculation and has been developed into a reality. The act of creation, whether it is an idea or an object, fuels a desire to engage in the world. The mobile gallery serves as a format for 
presenting new ideas to the general public. On a conceptual level, the mobile gallery functions as a piece of art, in itself.
A performance of transformation ensues as a standard rental truck is transformed into a mobile arts venue. The truck-as-gallery has the ability to create dialogue merging the viewer with the unexpected. Says Richards in his media package, “The presentation of art in an alternative venue creates a level of excitement not often associated with the 
established art system. Through innovation we have the ability to bypass all perceived boundaries. The ability to educate with the arts and involve the public is developed through conversation, a joining of forces, and a bit of creative thinking.”
As a group Ryder Jon Piotrs meets together once a week to discuss art and the options it provides. Coming from their isolated geographical location in Lubbock lends itself to creative problem solving. The Nomadic Gallery is their solution as a vehicle and venue for dialogue, growth, and promotion.
The group is currently in negotiations for exhibitions in Houston, Mesquite and in Phoenix, AZ at next spring's NCECA Conference. As the logo on the Ryder truck so aptly reads: “Together, we’re going places.”
Learn more about Ryder Jon Piotrs by visiting their website.