Echoes of Presence and Place
October 19, 2025 – February 15, 2026
Rockford Art Museum, IL-43, Chicago, IL, USA, Elmwood Park
An Installation of Works by Michael x. Ryan, 1979-2025 Thursday, January 22nd | 5:30 PM | Lecture with exhibiting artist | Free Rockford Art Museum | 711 N Main St. Rockford Join us for a free public opening and gallery walk with exhibiting artist Michael x. Ryan on Sunday, October 19th at 2 PM at Rockford Art Museum. The gallery walk will begin at 2 PM. Chicago-based artist Michael x. Ryan gathers the quiet imprints we leave behind — from sidewalk stains and river paths to shower puddles and fallen tree limbs — and gives them form, weight, and voice. Through drawing, mapping, wood relief, and 3D printed objects, Ryan captures traces of human presence — the edge of a river, the imprint of a wet body, the marks on a street — and renders them as physical forms that evoke movement, memory, and place. This exhibition brings together key installations spanning over four decades, from early works shaped by the Ox-Bow landscape to large-scale reliefs inspired by the streets of Chicago to one tree of interest on the family property in Woodstock, Illinois.