Ryder Richards & Sue Anne Rische

Colette Copeland
April 2020

The second in a series of conversations with artist couples delving into how they are surviving the pandemic times.

from Intelligence, An Art Show about Data Collection,
Sue Anne Rische, The Arts Gallery in Plano, Texas, 2019,
Working Faraday Cage where viewers lose their connectivity once inside

Email conversation with artists Ryder Richards and Sue Anne Rische

CC: How has covid19 and the quarantine impacted your artistic practice both conceptually and technically?

SAR: Mid-March I saw the writing on the wall and decided to move a good chunk of my studio to my home, where it’s now located in the dining room. I have access to all of the things I did before for the most part. The problem is that in a home studio, it can be hard to stay focused with all the chores that need attention, teaching online classes, the refrigerator, the video game console…

Masks, Sue Anne Rische

Conceptually, the current recommendation to wear masks in public suits my typical subject matter, privacy, quite well. I’m making masks from recycled t-shirts and giving them to friends and family. The Olson mask is my favorite choice after I tried a few prototypes. I’ve been reading every article I find about masks to stay current on the best materials and safety practices. I’m using my vinyl cutter to cut heat transfer vinyl which allows me to add a subversive touch to the fabric before they are sewn. I hope that masks become part of the new norm so that we can protect ourselves from facial recognition biometrics.

RR: Technically, the biggest difference is trying to order supplies and tools online, rather than picking them up at a store. This requires new protocols of dressing like an apocalypse nurse with mismatched work gloves, a shower cap, and old underwear as a respirator to open the packages that arrive, then disinfect everything, and finally have a small bonfire built from the enormous amount of packing materials needed to send me a drill bit.

I have been making DIY-based work for a few years, so this current crisis feeds into the mentality of “what can you do as an innovative amateur to empower yourself.” I am working on a functional ventilator made from buckets and car parts, and a collapsible distancing rod powered by a drill gun. You know, the same things any 13-year old boy would be doing.

Invisible Landscapes: No, hot stove, Jihye Han & Ryder Richards, 2020, 500X Gallery,
installed a few days prior to the quarantine, so only “open” for virtual viewing

CC: With all the museums and galleries closed, what innovative ways have you found in order to stay connected to art and artists?

SAR: As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve fallen for a piece of social media: Instagram. I follow many museums and artists there and feel like it gives me the opportunity to interact. Through Instagram I was also invited to participate in a zoom panel of dancers where the subject matter focused on how to infuse dancing with the other arts.

I reached out to an artist friend of mine and asked her to be my “accountability buddy.”  Daily life and pandemic headlines were taking over and making me miserable. I thought it would be great to have a person to check in with throughout the day to see what kind of creative things we are both up to. She turned it into a game and actually presented me with a challenge! We are now basing our creativity off of each other’s projects and using it as a thread to make a cohesive body of work that we could show once galleries open again. So far it involves painting, creative writing, and a mask but it could lead to anything else too. Why not performance? A song? All creative avenues are open. We’ve already discussed how freeing this project is because it has taken both of our minds in directions that neither of us had ever planned on taking.

Lastly, I reached out to the city arts director to see if she needed anyone to offer online drawing workshops or demos. We are currently discussing how to make that happen!

Nipper, Ryder Richards, acrylic on panel

RR: I have been doing this totally retro thing from the 90’s: I have been calling people with my phone and having hour long conversations about all sorts of nonsense. I have found a couple well curated online shows, and I started a podcast. I traded pieces with an artist I met through IG. However, it has only been a month, so I am not coming down with art scurvy just yet.

CC:  What are your strategies for staying sane and not getting homicidal with your partner during these times?

SAR: Haha! For my husband and I, this feels like how we operate in the summer. With his studio in the garage and his occasional escape to my other studio for the required internet stability he needs to do his job, we don’t feel much of a change. We operate just fine together in this capacity as two introverts.

When the Spring stops dumping rain on us, I have plans to collaborate with him on a project in the backyard involving colored smoke bombs, sparklers, and a silver body suit.

RR: Oh, God, I have dodged this body suit performance for years, but I guess it’s time to go have some fun.

from Intelligence, Sue Anne Rische,The Arts Gallery in Plano, Texas, 2019
Hidden messages activated with flash reveal personal data downloaded from internet

Read Colette’s conversation with Silvia Argiolas & Matteo Campulla →

Ryder Richards is a Dallas/Fort Worth based artist, writer and curator. He is an international exhibiting artist interested in conceptual and political art.  His art practice consists of several bodies of work, often researching cultural violence, conspiracy voids and architectural influence. He is the founder and publisher of Eutopia online arts journal.

ryderrichards.com
ryderrichards.us/
eutopia.us

Sue Anne Rische lives and works in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Texas Tech University and her Master’s Degree from the University of Washington and has shown in several countries including Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and England. Sue Anne has been an art professor for over 24 years and teaches innovation in her foundational art classes. Over the past five years, her work surrounding privacy utilizes interactive technology to call attention to privacy and data collection.

sueannerische.com
www.instagram.com/sue_anne_rische/

ColetteCopeland.com