Born in Alma, Michigan, Ryan Powers grew up surrounded by the state’s landscapes and with art close to home: his father is an accomplished artist and retired art teacher. Though he earned a BFA from Michigan State University, Powers initially pursued graphic design after college. It was later, as an adult, that he began to approach his own art more seriously. With a growing family once drawing him toward a life outside art, he is now returning to painting with renewed focus.

Water and nature are central to Powers’s work. He is especially drawn to the summer bluffs and dunes along Lake Michigan, whose distinctive forms and shifting weather offer an enduring source of inspiration. Storms moving across the water, he says, can be breathtaking. Powers has shown his work in galleries throughout Michigan’s Great Lakes region and is now devoting himself more fully to the practice that has long been part of his family life.