Faculty of Art
Drawing and Painting
Meet the Artist
Ryleigh
McGinley
Painting
“Using lived experiences of anticipatory grief, loss and mourning, I use oil painting as an expression of art as therapy and connection to faith. Painting myself, my friends, my father, and the devices which cared for him in his cancer diagnosis, I process the grief I have around my fathers passing. Using Catholic imagery and the power of prayer, I connected with my father and further investigated the link between painting and healing. Being able to paint women in my life as characters from the Bible gives me strength and hope that I can still be close to my dad. ”
Ryleigh McGinley is a contemporary artist working in Toronto. She is a painter specializing in oil. Ryleigh just finished her BFA in Drawing and Painting, with a Minor in Art History (2025). Ryleigh McGinley is actively building her portfolio of oil paintings, complete bodies of works, and multi-painting series. She focuses on figurative subjects. Her work has a heavy historical influence from the European Renaissance and Baroque eras. She takes from historical sources and makes the stories and subjects new and contemporary with a feminist lens, often focusing on the emotions within the narrative.
OCAD U - Faculty of Arts & Science
Art History
Minor Completed, 2025
Painting Oil painting
2024, It's Not Easy Being Green
Northern Contemporary, Toronto, ON
2024, Family Matters
Ontario Court of Justice
2024, Back to the Grimoire
Propellor Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
2022, Life on the Line
918 Bathurst Arts Centre, Toronto, ON
Celebrate the work of OCAD U’s class of 2024/2025!