Today, we wanna jazz up our talk about epoxy resin and all the cool stuff you can do with it.
Introducing our Rising Star and Craft Resin ambassador, Ryan Halligan! Mr. @phat.slabs This guy's a craftsman extraordinaire, whipping up creations so shiny, they're like the sun bouncing off the Florida waves.
Ryan's all about showing the world the wild side of crafting with Craft Resin. After spending most of his life tearing it up in extreme sports like motocross and BMX, he's now channeling that same energy into making crazy cool resin tables.
But enough from us, let's hear it straight from Ryan:
My name is Ryan Halligan. I’m twenty-six years old. I’m currently based out of Saint Augustine, Florida. I discovered woodworking five years ago living in the Florida Keys while creating a table for my family’s business. When initially asked by my father to create a table, I dove straight into the research behind resin art with live edged wood and quickly realized that it wasn't going to be an easy task. A few months of countless hours dedicated in video tutorials, and articles. I decided to trial and error this work for myself. I quickly devoted my time to small projects, feeling out different proportions of epoxy and various wood until I felt it was time for larger projects. In response, many friends and family felt that I had a talent for woodworking.
I knew that by creating such expansive tables, I would be able to gain traction in the world of woodworking. Soon realizing after a year into this I would need to find a better opportunity to showcase my work. Spending months on end creating multiple different varieties of tables with one goal in mind, to attend my first art show!
This was the exposure I was needing to help gauge where my artwork stood in the eyes of others. Having attended the show, it was a big positive response. Shortly after, I was invited to consign my work at the largest art gallery in Key West, FL. I was the only local artist of 40 different nationalities of artist all over the country and world.
Today I reside in Saint Augustine, FL starting my art journey in a new home that's more suitable for my personal as well as business desires.
Woodworking is my escape. It's the one thing that soothes me. My work is a direct reflection of the hardship endured life. While creating, an artist can go through many ups and downs before that one piece is finished. There's many days, weeks, and even months of work poured into each piece of art. That’s a lot of time for life to happen. So each piece in the eyes of the artist, is a direct reflection of their life and all they went through creating. If given the opportunity, I'll never stop doing what I love the most and that’s creating my art.
