Ryan Lauterio
Professor
- Chief Executive Officer
- Area Head, Art and Theology
- 2-D Mentor
- 3-D Mentor
Biography
Ryan Lauterio is a Christian conservative, multi-award-winning studio artist, educator, and founder whose life and work are devoted to the intersection of art, theology, and aesthetics. He is a Co-founder and CEO of The Maker Institute of Studio Art and Theology, a 501(c)(3), and Co-Founder of Made Makers: Christian Art and Design Education, a K–12 biblically integrated curriculum for homeschool and Christian Private school communities.
Ryan holds a B.A. (’03) and M.A. (’05) in Studio Art from CSU Sacramento and an M.F.A. (’09) in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He also completed three years of intensive in-house pastoral training through Remnant Church in Richmond, VA, where he later served as Pastor for Art and Culture from 2014 to 2020. Ryan is an Associate for Christian Art and Aesthetics at the Cantaro Institute.
From 2007 to 2024, Ryan served as a full-time Assistant Professor and Drawing Studio Area Head in the Art Foundation Program at VCUarts, one of the nation’s top-ranked public art schools. With additional teaching experience spanning K–12 education in California, his academic and professional career has been committed to raising up artists who see their work through a biblical lens.
Ryan is also the founder and Director of Shockoe Artspace, a contemporary art gallery he launched in 2011 in partnership with Remnant Church and formalized as a 501(c)(3) in 2016. The gallery has hosted exhibitions from both emerging and nationally recognized artists. His studio work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, is part of private and corporate collections, including Capital One, and has been published in New American Paintings, Image Journal, and more. His visual and written work is also featured in A Prophet in the Darkness: Exploring Theology in the Art of Georges Rouault (IVP, Studies in Theology and the Arts, Dec. 2024).
In media, Ryan co-directed the award-winning feature documentary The Builder with photographer Nick Sietz and co-hosted the Shockoe Artspeak podcast for four years. His current podcast, Reformed Artist, launching fall 2024, continues his commitment to equipping Christian creatives with thoughtful, biblically rooted conversations around art, design, and faith.
Ryan and his wife Laura, are homeschool parents to four children and are faithful members of Remnant Church in Richmond, VA. Everything Ryan does is grounded in a desire to glorify Christ by raising up discerning, courageous creatives who will help shape culture for the Kingdom of God.
Artist Statement
My studio practice operates under the Lordship of Christ and the redemptive work He is accomplishing in the world. I seek to make art that faithfully reflects His truth, beauty, and goodness in a broken culture, recognizing that all artistic expression is either in alignment with or in rebellion against His purposes. There is no neutral ground—every artwork is an act of faithfulness or unfaithfulness. As such, my work is a form of visual apologetics, aimed at holding thoughts captive to what is true, excellent, and beautiful.
While painting has been the primary medium through which I’ve developed my visual language, my practice extends beyond it. I work across mediums and disciplines to explore the tensions of human existence and longing, drawing from theology, art history, philosophy, and cultural critique. This breadth of practice includes institutional building, curation, teaching, and shaping communities of artists. As the founder of Shockoe Artspace and a co-founder of The Maker Institute of Studio Art + Theology, and Co-Founder of Made Makers Christian Art and Design Education, I see the act of institution-building itself as a creative, theological, and cultural vocation—one that forms places for faithful making, robust education, and generational impact.
Over the past decade, my painting practice has remained central. I draw inspiration from the history of painting—from the Renaissance and Baroque periods to Abstract Expressionism, Impressionism, Post-Painterly Abstraction, Neo-Expressionism, and even pop cultural imagery. My work converses with and critiques various modern and contemporary modalities, seeking to reconcile what has been fractured in the arts and offer it back as a redeemed gift expression. Through this, I aim to harmonize visual tensions into discrete, fresh wholes—compositions that challenge art history, confront cultural apathy, and awaken affections in the hearts of viewers.
I want my work to humanize—to render the seen and unseen with the weight and wonder of reality as God has made it. If viewers are willing, I hope they encounter visual forms that challenge them, that reorient their loves, and that stir their longings toward something greater than the self. My aim, ultimately, is to glorify Christ in the studio, the institution, and the culture by being a faithful maker in all things.
Research Practice
| Written Work | ||
|---|---|---|
| Made in the Image of | Shockoe Artspace | |
| Plant a Tree, Save the World | Shockoe Artspace | |
| Dignified: Director’s Introduction | Shockoe Artspace |
| Studio Work |
|---|
