Bio
Kevin Dean Ramler was born on a Tuesday. When he was 12 years old he bought a jaw harp at a museum gift shop while on a family road trip tracing the path of the Oregon trail. In 2005 he abandoned his dream of becoming a theatre major and took ceramics class at Richland Community College. Since then he has received two art degrees, made thousands of things, embraced the museum life, and adopted two dogs and a cat. He currently lives with his wife in Cheyenne, Wyoming where he works as the director of the Wyoming State Museum.
Kevin thinks that his art can help other people explore their own creative impulse and so he creates objects and events that people can use to make their own art, sounds, and stories. It's a whole, big thing with lots of layers, but that’s not important right now.
Like most artists Kevin can be a bit insecure, occasionally he is riddled with self-doubt, but mostly he thinks what he does is awesome. Kevin hopes you like his work. If you want to see pictures of his work in progress, his pets, and his adventures in homebrewing and hiking you can follow him on instagram @kevindeanramler.
Kevin thinks that his art can help other people explore their own creative impulse and so he creates objects and events that people can use to make their own art, sounds, and stories. It's a whole, big thing with lots of layers, but that’s not important right now.
Like most artists Kevin can be a bit insecure, occasionally he is riddled with self-doubt, but mostly he thinks what he does is awesome. Kevin hopes you like his work. If you want to see pictures of his work in progress, his pets, and his adventures in homebrewing and hiking you can follow him on instagram @kevindeanramler.
Artist Statement
Trying to understand art by talking about content is like trying to understand a cup by talking about coffee. Although there are many interesting things to say about coffee no amount of analysis of flavor profiles, bean origin, or roasting technique will yield any insight into the cup. We understand the cup by talking about its form, material, and function. What it contains is irrelevant to its thusness. Many works of Art operate as vessels. The essential elements of art are not form and content but form and function. Undoubtedly, the primary function of many works of art is to deliver content, but a work of art is ultimately judged not by what it contains but by how well it functions to deliver that content. You can put bad content in a good cup and not affect the quality of the cup, but putting good content in a poorly functioning cup prevents enjoyment of both content and cup. Whether the content is coffee or metaphor is irrelevant. The astute art observer should not ask “What does it mean?” but rather “What does it do?” This is the more fundamental question.
