C. Ryan Patterson serves as MSAC’s Public Art Program Director. Ryan has been a part of MSAC’s staff since 2020 when he was hired as the Public Art Project Manager. He temporarily served as Arts Capital Coordinator, helping to develop the Arts Capital Grant program and administering the program through the first two grant cycles. In 2024, he was named Program Director for Public Art. He is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the state’s Percent for Art Commission program, staffing the Maryland Public Art Commission, and administering the Public Art Across Maryland grant programs with the support of Public Art team members.
Raised in South Florida, Ryan also spent formative time growing up in southern Wisconsin and western North Carolina. A lifelong visual artist, he moved to Baltimore in 2002 to earn his Bachelor of Fine Arts in General Sculptural Studies at the Maryland Institute of College of Art, where he was also awarded a France Merrick Fellowship and named student leader in Community Arts. Before joining MSAC, Ryan served as a Community Arts Organizer for the Parks & People Foundation, a Community Artist in Residence at the Kentucky School of Art, and a Public Art Administrator for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts.
Interview between Amy Boone-McCreesh and Ryan Patterson
AMY: WHAT IS YOUR ROLE OR TITLE AT MARYLAND STATE ARTS COUNCIL AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING THERE?
RYAN : I am the Program Director, Public Art at the Maryland State Arts Council. I started at MSACin February of 2020.
I started as Public Art Project Manager. I was tasked with supporting the increased number of public art commission projects coming into the State Percent for Art Program.. This may touch on something you’re going to ask, but the State Percent for Art Program, or in legislation it’s called the Maryland Public Art Initiative, when it was initially passed, it required that state capital projects had to be 100% funded by the state in order to be eligible for public art. But in 2019, they revised the legislation to say it had to be at least 50% state-funded. And so as a result, lots of types of big capital investments on university campuses that included funding from private donations became eligible for the program. It really doubled the number of projects, and that justified increasing staff. So I came on as a project manager, as a state contractor, and I have over that time moved to a a couple of positions at MSAC. Now I’m back in Public Art as the Program Director. Last summer, little less than a year ago, the prior program director retired. Her name is Liesel Fenner. And she was a big part of the reason I wanted to work at MSAC. Like I wanted to work with Liesel because she was a real mentor in the field and to me personally. She was also just really fun to brainstorm and work with. So when she retired, and I applied for that job. And now I’m in that program director role.
A: FROM YOUR SIDE OF ARTS ADMINISTRATION – WHAT GENERAL ADVICE TO YOU HAVE FOR ARTISTS OR CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS LOOKING TO FUND THEIR PROJECTS?
R: I think sometimes there is a perception that the art has to be fully community-driven in a way that takes the artist’s autonomy or artist’s voice out of it.
But for an artist with an idea that they want to put forward into a public setting, I would find the part that you’re passionate about engaging the public with. Think about what elements are engaging a public audience, or what about a place, site or location are you trying to speak to… and then look for ways to connect with organizations or individual people who make those places accessible. I’ve spent many years volunteering for local causes or groups that are important to me or my family and my personal life. For example, for about 10 years I volunteered with the Friends of Wyman Park Dell. That park itself is a city-owned property, a public park… so if the community wants a new playground, or to install a ping-pong table… you may have raised the money, but you still need the approval of the government agency or department that oversees the park. But to get involved in holding an event there, you can join the Friends of Wyman Park Dell, which is a group of volunteers that care about that place and want to keep it clean and accessible.. Working with a group like that you can also gain a lot of access to learning how things operate and how public space is administered.. That’s true for most public places. There’s a good chance that any park or any library or public place that you might want to respond to or use to showcase your artist-led project has a group of volunteers that help to keep those spaces accessible and thriving. Connecting with those people, sharing your ideas, understanding how they operate, but being transparent about what your goals are can open a lot of doors or help you plan out your process. The folks in these organizations are usually really good intermediaries. The groups often have non-profit status and could help you apply for public funding like grants. That kind of partnership can also help artists by alleviating some of the burdens around taxes or grant reporting. By partnering with a group who is already working in a place they can bring support you didn’t feel comfortable with.Maybe they’ll help write or edit the grant application. Maybe they act as the agent to receive funding so that you don’t have the tax burden of the entire project. There are various examples of why an artist might partner with a group, but overall I’m encouraging artists to connect with volunteer groups,a) better understand the parameters and ongoing dialogues around places they want to work, and b) build collaborative relationships with people who have a long-term vision and goals around the space and the community members that use it.
A: IT WAS RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THAT MSAC WILL BE HOSTING A NATIONAL CALL FOR THE 2026-2028 PUBLIC ART ROSTER – CAN YOU EXPLAIN MORE WHAT THIS MEANS?
R: Our work happens in two columns. One is a grant program, the Public Art Across Maryland grants. That’s available to organizations and artists in Maryland. That advice I just gave about artists partnering with local organizations applies mostly to the grants.
The other thing we do is manage the State’s “percent-for-art” program.. If you’re not familiar with that term, it works like this: When the state constructs, or significantly renovates, a public building, a half a percent of the construction costs go towards creating public art for that building. Our goal is to promote the inclusion of public art in these projects by helping to manage the artist selection process, and then act as a liaison between the artist and the construction project through the installation of the artwork. These are big budget projects, usually ranging from $50,000- $700,000 but sometimes higher or lower. Most of these public art commissions are open to artists from across the U.S. Which is different from most funding and opportunities offered through MSAC, where eligibility is restricted to Maryalnd based artists. The Public Artist Roster is something we’ve implemented for the last two years to help us select artists for the commission opportunities. It’s simply just really helpful to have a “pre-qualified list” of artists that our team can use to identify artists that align with the goals and needs of particular projects. Rather than putting out a call-to-artists for every project, the Roster allows our team to get to know your portfolio better, and advance you for particular projects you may be best suited for. If we just put out a call, every call gets the same 200 or 300 people who apply. It’s a lot to wade through, and it’s really hard for individuals with less experience or name recognition to stand out in early rounds or review. Utilizing the roster is about providing an equitable opportunity for more artists to be considered. Our team will learn about a particular project, what the parameters are, and talk about the opportunities for art with the team behind the project. Then we pull 60 to 100 from the roster to be considered. We do this for every project, and we try to mix it up so that different portfolios are reviewed, and it’s not the same names in every batch. . In addition, the roster is a public-facing resource on the web, so anybody in who’s looking for artists can search it, see your portfolio, and contact you directly. I’ve heard for at least one artist who gained a pretty big opportunity because someone found them on the roster.
A lot of the pieces we commission are probably what you would expect- large sculpture, mosaics, interior installations hanging in a lobby, we are actually required to stick to some pretty traditional art forms, mostly to ensure the works will last a long time and be a good investment for the state. But at the same time, we are increasingly exploring opportunities to support and collaborate with artists who may not have prior public art experience, to to translate their work into what we often call “resilient materials”, formats that can stand the test of time in a public setting without requiring too much special maintenance. We are especially focusing this kind of extra support and collaboration on Maryland artists. Right now, this looks like working with painters, illustrators, or printmakers to recreate works into high quality mosaics, or digitally printed or engraved into wall panels, but this could also turn into helping connect artists with other artist-fabricators, or other forms of collaboration and experimentation that we have not thought of.
A: WHAT TYPES OF ARTISTS SHOULD OR COULD APPLY ?
R: We often field the question, I’ve never been commissioned to create a public piece, should I even bother applying to something like the Roster? And our response is-
I would say any an artist who’s willing to work collaboratively, that would include MSAC, but also building users, architects, project managers and construction experts, and open to with my team, a construction professional, an architect, to exploring new mediums, materials or approaches to meet the needs of a site and project, should feel welcome to apply. Being open to problem solving and experimentation is pretty essential. translating their materials or work in new ways, we don’t expect you to have all the experience in the world. But a kind of unstated prerequisite to this work is being open to listening, and coming in, but it’s more of an interest in adapting to themes and goals. These projects are years long, and take a lot of energy, working through problems and finding solutions becomes part of the studio work, and if approached creatively can lead to really dynamic and engaging artwork.
The review process is pretty generous. . It’s not based on artistic merit, experience etc. There are four criteria:
Artist communicates a unique vision or perspective
Artist demonstrates an authentic relationship to the subject matter
Artist shows ability to create site-responsive work engaging a site and/or community
Artist demonstrates command of materials and/or skill in technique
A hired group of 25 panelists from across the country will review your application. Your application will be reviewed by at least two panelists and you need to meet 3 of the 4 criteria on average to be included in the roster. Our staff review for completeness and eligibility, but generally we want the list of artists to be large and broad in representation so we have a lot of good options to pick from.
All that said, this is all from the lens of- this is a list of artists who want to be hired to make public art for the State. There are great artists, artists who make great public art, who may not want to work with the state, or just dont like this process, and that is perfectly fine, it’s not for everyone. But if you are interested in the things I mentioned above, we would love to have you apply.
A: ONCE ARTISTS ARE ACCEPTED INTO THE ROSTER – HOW MIGHT A COMMISSION TAKE FORM FROM THERE?
R: I’ll give a real world example of a project that is currently active, and being really well managed by my co-worker, Public Art Project Manager Nora Howell. The University of Maryland, Baltimore is building a new building for the School of Social Work . There is a desire for the building to be very welcoming, very green and sustainable, and representative of the values of the academic program as well as the diversity in the field and the community of people that interact with the School of Social Work across Baltimore. When we looked at the “percent-for-art” budget, with the people who will occupy the building, and the building’s design team, it was decided there should be two different art projects commissioned for the building. A large interior project that would speak to the themes and values of the program, and another 2D artwork on the exterior of the building. The two artists selected are Kipp Kobyashi for the interior, and LaToya Peoples for the exterior.
After they were under contact, both artists came back to the school for two days of interviews and tours around the school and its various programs. Nora says they met with everyone from the building’s maintenance staff, to the faculty/student lunches, and one-on one interviews with the Dean. Following that each artist has gone back to their studio for further research and studio work. They will start developing artwork concepts that include a general sense of the scale, form, materials, and scale of artworks they can create within their respective budgets, and eventually present those back to a project steering committee for feedback.
In the case of the exterior work, LaToya is a great muralist based here in Baltimore, but we are working with her to explore new materials to communicate her imagery. She was also asked to research some potential materials (mosaics, digital reproduction, engraving etc..) and we’ll see what she comes back with, but our team or the architect may have some additional suggestions of creative material uses that could fit within our budget.
So that was a long answer.. But essentially, after selection, we make time for community engagement and listening, and then concept development. Once the concept is approved the artists refine the technical details of the design, materials, and engineering, and eventually the work is installed.
A: What would your thoughts or advice be for someone that might be leaving school and they want to be involved in the arts as a job?
R: Well, I guess I’d just start with saying that myself and my colleagues try to be very accessible. If you have a question about how something works, , how to access our funding, or how to improve your application, we try to be very available. So don’t be shy to reach out.
I am only here because people in similar positions made themselves accessible to me when I was coming out of school. I remember when the City re-established its percent-for-art ordinance in 2007, and someone who knew I was interested in this kind of work, suggested I reach out to the people at BOPA responsible for the program. So I was able to request an informational interview with Bill Gilmore, who generously met with me for a while, but then he took me over to talk with Kim Domanski, who was staffing the Public Art Commission. I ended up talking with Kim and Gary Kachadorian for like two hours, they were so generous and supportive. I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone who met them. Tragically Kim passed away earlier this year, and at her memorial, it was just one story after another about the generosity that she (and Gary) afforded to people in helping them gain permissions and encouraging them to realize various projects. So, getting back to your question, I want to carry that on, and I think most people in my position do, but we can only do that if artists do their homework to find us, and reach out to share ideas. And that doesn’t mean posting on Instagram, that means showing up and talking to people Don’t get me wrong. I find great projects and artists on Instagram, but it’s also like an ocean, and only people who are good at swimming and existing in that particular ocean are going to be visible Your professional development does not need to be “how do I get better at social media”, it can really just be, let me start a dialogue with people who don’t know me, and might be able to help me realize my goals.
Also try things out, try new things, and don’t be afraid to work outside of your own backyard. MSAC serves the whole state, and I love working in rural settings, or counties and towns with smaller populations. Usually I’ll meet a really tight community of engaged, active residents who want to bring art to their town. But they dont always know how to connect with artists, and not many from the more populated urban areas are bothering to visit… but if you are an artists who just finished school, and you want to go experiment and make a piece of land art that responds to a local ecosystem, or even paint a mural… reach out to the local County Arts Council’s or A&E District Managers across the State, go to the local mainstreet manager, or park stewards and ask if they have interest in working with an artist. I think a lot of people think they need to be in an urban area for the most visibility, but there are great humans all over our state that might welcome you to their community and help you realize a project you’ve been thinking about.
NOTE: The Maryland Public Artist Roster is open to artists and studios from across the U.S. that are interested in being commissioned to create artwork for the State of Maryland. Interested artists can apply here before the deadline, 11:59pm June 30, 2025. The Public Art Across Maryland grant program provides funding to support the planning, creation and conservation of public artworks in Maryland. The next grant cycle will open in September with a deadline in December 2025.