Homestead Valley man creates whimsical public art projects
Tim Ryan has spent the past few years putting together art projects that he gives to others, mostly strangers. Even he doesn’t always know where they’ll pop up.
The Homestead Valley resident, the father of the famous Fork, the giant eating utensil at the fork of Janes Street and Montford Avenue in Mill Valley, uses scrap, recyclables and found materials and often collaborates with others to create “a little magic.” Lately, the magic has been in the form of fairy doors.
When he’s not brainstorming or working on his next idea, Ryan, a 2023 Milley Award recipient, is the senior director of strategic facility planning at San Rafael City Schools.
Q When did you love of art and design begin?
A At a very young age. Exposure to art was a part of my family life. My father was a blacksmith and my mother made costumes and we were doing community theater and building sets and all of that as long as I can remember.
Q How did the fairy doors begin?
A My best friend Megan came to me and said, “Hey, can you make me a fairy door? I’ve got a little 9-inch fairy I want to put with it.” I had been wanting to build a fairy house on Pixie Trail. I know the effort it would take, and that when you put something in public, things get taken. I just couldn’t do it. And then I made her a door and she said, “This is great, now don’t make this a thing where you start making a bunch of them.” And I was thinking, yeah, well, too late.
Q Where does your sense of whimsy come from?
A When someone runs into the fairy door for the first time and you get to experience the look on their face or that moment where they’re confronted with something that is magic. Watching a 4-year-old find a fairy door or to see someone who is home from chemo treatment find a heart on the door, it’s just what comes from wanting to create that, that brief moment of magic. You never know what impact you’re going to have. And I take that into my work where I can, where I’m able to build things that create a sense of place and give kids a moment of pause.
Q What was your first public art project?
A Building sets at Tam Valley Elementary. Then I became the PTA president and I ran the Halloween event, and coordinated building games and that stuff. And then I landed at Mill Valley Middle School, where they had (set designer) Steve Coleman. I learned so much from him. And I put on the Kiddo! Carnival and built all the games and signs. That’s the world that got me started.
Q How did your pandemic heart project impact you and others?
A I started the hearts project during COVID and now we’ve given out 1,500 hearts. I had eight metal rings that I was saving for something. I made a heart for my ex-wife back in the day. And I thought, I’ll make these eight hearts and I’ll put them on the street in front of my house with a sign that says, “Take a heart and share it with someone that you know is struggling.” I come home and they’re gone. And about two weeks later, there’s a woman standing in my driveway as I pull in and she said, “Did you put the hearts out? I wanna let you know, I did not share mine. I kept it. My dog died that morning. And I stumbled on your heart, and it reminds me every day of them.” … This last 100 that I did, I said, you had to come to my house to get them. I met everyone. And I had four different women cry and I took the time to sit with them. And it’s cancer, divorce, death, kids in crisis. And this bent, rusty piece of metal made a positive impact, which means a lot to me.
Q What drove you to this side of art?
A I said to my dad, a blacksmith, that you should just design one thing and send it overseas and have them make hundreds. And he said, “Tim, it’s not about the product, it’s about the process.” I’m not making gallery art even though some of my stuff has been in galleries. I know my stuff is crude and I know that it’s rough. But it has a place.