Ryan Panco
I was born in St. Petersburg, FL at Bayfront Hospital in 1985. I had a wonderful childhood growing up here along with my older sister and younger brother which was only possible because of the hard work our parents put in for us to have a good life. From an early age we were always encouraged to explore and be curious about the world around us which I believe contributed to our creativity and open mindedness. I always had various art supplies at my disposal as early as I can remember from pens, markers and colored pencils to clay, paints or pastels (and lets not mention all the experimenting with tools I did when sneaking into the garage!) These formative years of experimenting and creating were invaluable in shaping me into the person I am today.
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Over the years we moved around Pinellas County with my middle and high school years being spent in Seminole, FL. I attended Seminole Middle School and was excited about going to Seminole High because I knew I would be able to select art classes as my electives. This is where I met Susan Harbison who would become a giant influence on me and the advancement of my abilities. She taught multiple art classes from Drawing and Painting to AP Portfolio. Over my 4 years there I took every art class that I could sign up for and was always excited to attend them... the other classes? not as exciting to me... Luckily most of my art classes were at the end of the day so my anticipation to attend those classes helped me get through the other subjects and eventually graduate.
My senior year I was finally able to take AP Portfolio which I was looking forward to for a long time. I was excited about this class because we had the freedom to build our portfolio how we wanted which would then be sent off and judged on a scale of 1-5. Mrs. Harbison always mentioned how the highest score she had ever seen was a 4 and that they were "selling balloons on a street corner now" and didnt want me to waste my abilities too. The end of the year approached and I finally sent off my portfolio which I was certain was horrible and would be rated a 2. After a long wait I got a letter in the mail with my scores and couldn't believe it! My portfolio had received a 5 rating and me along with 2 other students in the state of Florida were invited to the Governors House in Tallahassee!
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After high school I ended up not taking Mrs. Harbison's advice and ended up working a variety of odd jobs and kind of pushed art into the background.
It wasn't until moving back to St. Petersburg in my early 30's that I started to think I could make a living through creating artwork. I created a door painting for my friends kindergarten class which I was later able to show to the wonderful Bergstrom family over at Jungle Gym to convince them that I could do a quality mural in their new gym they were opening soon. I agreed to do one large wall and two smaller side walls in the children section which I was shocked of when I saw the actual size in person. The biggest thing I had ever done before this was that small door but I just wanted to see if I could do a project of this scale.
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