Earlier this week, we welcomed Ryan Tenney, an interdisciplinary artist and agroecological practitioner based in the U.S., for a ten-week residency at the G.A.S. Farm House. Working across painting, installation, digital media, and ecological research, Ryan’s practice sits at the intersection of art, agriculture, technology, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. His work investigates how creative and agrarian practices can operate as tools for liberation, collective care, and the imagining of alternative futures.
During his residency, Ryan plans to use the period as a time for material and conceptual growth, continuing to plant and germinate both ideas and seeds. He will further develop his ongoing gourd project while engaging deeply with the ecology of Ikiṣẹ, exploring soil systems, plant life, and agroecological practices rooted in both contemporary science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. His research will involve close, hands-on engagement with the farm, including experiments in compressed earth block construction and the integration of agricultural technologies with traditional farming methods. Ryan also intends to revisit the New Afrika Shrine to explore how the gourd project might be incorporated into stage design through projection mapping and site-specific installation. Throughout the residency, he hopes to work with farmers, herbalists, and fibre practitioners, participating in farmer-to-farmer exchanges and collective learning. In addition to his research, Ryan plans to contribute to the cultural life of the residency through workshops, shared production sessions, and exchanges that bridge agroecology, printmaking, and community knowledge-sharing.
Untitled, acrylic on paper. Image courtesy of the artist.
What is the current focus of your creative practice?
I work across a wide range of mediums within an evolving interdisciplinary practice that spans painting and digital media, recycled computer hardware, creative coding, biological–machine hybrids, printmaking with black walnut ink, and agroecological farming. As a cultural worker, my practice stays attuned to social movements and community aspirations around food sovereignty, resisting narratives of blight and deficiency. Over the past three years, the cross-pollination of art and agriculture has led to hybrid forms combining gourds grown on my farm with digital technologies and sensor arrays. Inspired by Sun Ra’s MythScience, I initiated the Community Soil Science Cooperative, grounding the mycological and the mythological as tools for liberation. Rooted in collaboration with community and land stewards, my work engages land as a socio-technological site, synthesizing art, agriculture, and traditional ecological knowledge toward imagining more just futures.
What drew you to apply for this residency and how do you think it will inform your wider practice?
My interest piqued when I learned that the G.A.S. Farm House was designed and constructed using ecological principles, including compressed earth brick materials. I have utilized sustainable building practices on my farm, as well as greywater management, composting, rainwater harvesting, and other sustainable technologies. I would love to experiment with the compressed earth brick press during my residency, as well as explore other agroecological practices, such as vermicomposting infrastructure constructed with compressed earth bricks.
Can you give us an insight into how you hope to use the opportunity?
My approach to the residency period is very much an extension and synthesis of my practice as a farmer and cultural worker. My existing practice follows in the footsteps of George Washington Carver, who is most widely known for his spiritual and scientific approach to agriculture. I later discovered that he was also an artist, practicing painting throughout his life alongside chemistry, material science, and teaching. My practice similarly encompasses artistic production, agricultural production, and experimentation in the lab. During the residency period, I aim to continue this synthesis of artistic, technological, and social approaches to (agri)cultural production.
About Ryan Tenney
Ryan Tenney is an interdisciplinary (agri)cultural worker whose practice spans agriculture, artistic production, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Influenced by the ecological, scientific, and artistic legacy of George Washington Carver, Tenney synthesizes painting, printmaking, creative coding, soil science, and farming into a holistic practice grounded in Black agrarian traditions. His work emphasizes arts-based knowledge translation, collaboration, and experimentation as pathways toward food sovereignty and ecological justice. Alongside his artistic practice, Tenney teaches printmaking, painting, and agri-TEK on his farm and through workshops across the United States, fostering connections between cultural production, land stewardship, and community-led futures.
Photo of Ryan Tenney. Image courtesy of the artist.