Bryan David Griffith works across multiple media and learns or invents new techniques as needed to convey the concepts in each body of work. He earned an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and worked for an international management consulting firm before he resigned to follow his conscience. He bought an old van to live out of as he toured the country, struggling to build a new career as an artist. When Bryan’s van broke down in Flagstaff, he fell in love with the town—and then his wife, Tasha. He never left.
Bryan is the 2016 winner and a four-time finalist for the Visual Arts Viola Award. His work is held in nine permanent museum collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Phoenix Art Museum, High Desert Museum, and UM Museum of Art. Bryan has exhibited in over 15 solo museum and gallery shows and dozens of group shows. He has been featured in Slate, Hyperallergic, Southwest Contemporary, B&W, Arizona Highways, and many more publications.

Artist Statement 

The pieces in Watershed respond to local water-related processes disrupted by climate change. I make my work out of the local landscape: I forage dyes and pigments from leaves, seed husks, charcoal, rocks, and barbed wire. I salvage wood from construction and wildfire sites. My process begins with an underpainting of foraged plant forms using iron-based cyanotype chemistry. To this bright blue foundation I add a second layer of botanical forms using a technique I discovered of manipulating the wicking properties of dyes under the Arizona sun. I selectively alter the color with plants that chemically react with the underlying iron. Then I build up additional layers of natural dyes and pigments, along with acrylic paint. These subtle layers reveal themselves gradually with extended viewing. I try to create meditative works that beckon you to pause and reflect on the greater mysteries that underlie the natural world and our relationship to it.

Contact:

Email: bryandavidgriffith@hotmail.com

Phone: 928-362-2001

Website: https://bryandavidgriffith.com

Social: https://instagram.com/bryandavidgriffith