Seattle's Street Art 1

As I told you in an earlier blog, my friend Jo Ann took me to see a really cool wall mural at Lowell Elementary School on Capitol Hill.  She told me it was painted by an artist named Henry who has done a number wall murals in the greater Seattle area.  I took the above photographs of the wall mural and when I got home I did some research on creative, whimsical artist.   

According to Wikipedia: Ryan Henry Ward, who signs his work simply as Henry, is an American artist who has been described as "Seattle's most prolific muralist". He has painted over 120 murals on surfaces, such as buildings exteriors, school interiors, garages, and even vehicles in and around Seattle and has sold over 2000 canvases.




As an artist, he began his craft at the age of three, drawing on the walls of his childhood home. He has a deep history of sharing his art with the world. In third grade he had his own comic strip named Mr. Pib and Ernie and while in the fourth grade he began winning art competitions which landed his imagery on t-shirts. He self-published greeting cards throughout his childhood, and in high school began yet another comic strip, The Cheese Life, which was published on the back of Omega Force comic books. 

Ryan Henry Ward's vision of creating primitive images with a dream-like, surreal quality has come to fruition. He wants the natural rawness of the painting process to show through his balanced, bright, and whimsical work.

As of 2011, Ward maintains a studio in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, and lives in a small bus with his dog, Merlin.  Ryan can be found during business hours at Short Stop Coffee in Ballard, WA.  You can stop in to meet him in person and "snag some swag," or check out his online store and ship it to your house! Either way, you're sure to take home a smidgen of whimsy with a smile.

 
If you are interested in finding out more about this artist, here are a couple of links you can click on:  http://www.ryanhenryward.com/ and http://monkeygoggles.com/?p=1824