Audry Rider, Artist
Artist Biography
Audry Rider lives and works in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. She was a member of Dallas ISD’s and Houston ISD’s faculty from 2005 to 2021 as a Visual Arts and Gifted & Talented Teacher. Currently and over the last 3 years she’s worked as the Gifted and Talented Director at St. Anthony Academy in South Dallas. Rider was recently one of the 2023 recipients of the New Texas Talent 30th annual statewide juried exhibition at Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas with her photograph “Encompassed with Purpose,” series From the Inside. She’s exhibited in two-person exhibitions at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her group exhibitions include the Second Annual National Arts Program Exhibit in Austin, TX where Rider was honored with Best in Show Award in 2004 for her painting “Boxes” on wood panel. Rider is working on expanding her portfolio to apply to Graduate programs to receive her Masters in Fine Art for photography.
Artist Philosophy
During childhood I would play and create in a world all my own. I would open an art book to Picasso’s
canvas or an Avedon photograph. These works taught me there were no rules to an idea and beauty could not always be explained. I had no words to convey my kinship with these masters. I only knew they were important, and I was to be a part of their world. Artists were noble storytellers. Above all, artists were asserting their existence. I knew then God had chosen me to walk the path as an artist.
Valuing many forms of art, photography was initially the most mysterious and inviting for me as an artist. Training in color theory, lighting, and composition were simply pieces of a puzzle. These pieces came together as I found myself standing before a blank canvas through the lens. The act of painting with light is so many things: a dance, therapy, a physical reaction to time and space. It can heal all shame, empower, and even give power to those who have too little. Art is continuously elevating me. Its importance on a grand sociological scale cannot be denied, challenging convention and authority. However, experiencing the intimate and subtle details in a work of art can have such a lasting impact on an individual’s existence. Personally, the question I face is: How do you celebrate art besides only creating it? The answer is: teaching others to do the same. Sharing the gift I received. Art and teaching go together in a natural, harmonious union. Just as it was when I was young, I am part of a community through time. We share a commitment with artists of the past to shape today and tomorrow.
Artist Statement
Through landscapes and environmental portraits, I construct still-moments of existence through reflective light. Building on my fascination with the movement of light across surfaces, the internal transformation process in one’s life, and connection with self and others, I break up images and put them back together to form an evolved image. From pieces to whole, from holes to mended, and from shattered to renewed, people with a transformative path go through an intentional process; a refining fire that tells a story someone is waiting to see or hear to spark their next step or validate their story.
I use the grid to infer an introspective window to pique the audience’s curiosity and invite them inside. Often the outside world’s limited view does not begin to explore the fullness of a person’s character nor the depth of their experiences. True revelation begins with a willingness to be vulnerable and transparent first with yourself then through connections and conversations. The image’s environment is an atmosphere of color and objects where the person is representing their personality, passions, and stories collected; and in the landscape symbolism is used to echo inner narratives of truth and movement towards insight.
What YOU bring to the image is exactly what is required. YOU are positioned perfectly right now on your path. My hope is each image would encourage you on your walk, remind you that you are bold, and ignite a fire from the inside.