The Abduction of Liberty

Ryan was born February 23, 1975, the fifth of Ken and Sheelagh McCourt’s five children. He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and went to school at Patricia Heights Elementary, Hillcrest Junior High, Jasper Place High, and the University of Alberta, where he earned his BFA in 1997, and his MFA in Sculpture in 1999. He married Nola Cassady in 2008, and their daughter Hazel was born in 2010. McCourt founded the North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop in 2002, and the Common Sense gallery in 2008. He has won numerous awards and honours for his work, and his art is found in diverse public and private collections. He works at the North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop.

The sculpture depicts a personified Liberty, hooded and struggling, enshrined but shackled, imprisoned on a pedestal. Inscribed on the piece are the remembered words of Benjamin Franklin: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty or safety”.