Ryan McCourt

Ryan McCourt
Ryan McCourt and Alberta premier Ralph Klein at the unveiling of "A Modern Outlook" in Edmonton.
Born	1975 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Education	University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	"A Modern Outlook", "Will and Representation"
Movement	Old school modernism, late modernism, surrealism, abstraction
Patron(s)	Robert T. Webb Sculpture Garden

Ryan McCourt (born February 23, 1975) is a Canadian late modernist artist best known for his "elegant" sculptures. His artwork has been seen in exhibitions alongside a variety of notable visual artists, from Aganetha Dyck and Barbara Astman to Jules Olitski and Walter Darby Bannard. With sculptors Andrew French, Mark Bellows, Bianca Khan, Rob Willms, Linda Maines, and Cynthia Sentara, Ryan McCourt is identified as part of the "Next Generation" of Edmonton Sculpture.

Ryan David McCourt was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, the youngest of Ken and Sheelagh McCourt's five children. He attended school at Patricia Heights Elementary School, Hillcrest Junior High School, and Jasper Place High School. McCourt completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997, and his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture in 1999, both at the University of Alberta There, McCourt was a student of Peter Hide and Edmonton's modernist tradition of welded sculpture.

In 1995, while an undergraduate student, McCourt was a photographer with the Edmonton Eskimos Football Club. After completing his MFA, McCourt worked as the Artistic Coordinator for The Works Art Expo 2001, and curated Resolutions, a solo exhibition of paintings by Canadian artist Tony Baker, at the Edmonton Art Gallery. In 2002, McCourt founded the North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop, "a cooperative shared-studio project focused on facilitating the creation and promotion of contemporary sculpture," producing the Big Things sculpture series at the Royal Alberta Museum from 2002 to 2006. In 2003, McCourt was an instructor of Visual Fundamentals at the University of Alberta. In 2004, alongside then-Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, McCourt unveiled his 5.5-meter tall commissioned sculpture entitled A Modern Outlook, at 18550-118A Avenue in Edmonton. McCourt organized the Alberta Centennial Sculpture Exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum in 2005.