My name is Jonathan Ryan, an Emerging visual artist located in the Ottawa Valley and proudly embracing life with autism. As a Canadian who has travelled a lot of the country, I have discovered that exploring nature and creating art have provided me with a sanctuary from the noise of everyday life, a way for me to immerse myself in a world of creativity and tranquility without overstimulation.

It’s nearly impossible to navigate life without confronting some form of mental health difficulty, either personally or indirectly, it seems to affect everyone at some point in their lives. Throughout my upbringing, I encountered numerous first hand struggles with mental health, from hearing stories attending my fathers A.A. meetings, to witnessing his own battles with severe depression, to losing loved ones from their own inner demons. Mental health issues have touched my life in profound ways.

My work is inspired by the natural world from which I escape to, particularly bright and vibrant wildlife, since it has always served as a rich source for my hyper fixations. I specialize in using acrylics on custom-made, gallery standard canvases to produce imaginative, impressionistic to surrealistic depictions of scenes/creatures I have witnessed in natural environments. Through my art, I hope to share my sense of escapism and peace with others, to show that even in the darkest of times, there is always beauty and light to be found.