Ryan was born in Invermere, BC, Canada in 1973. A fourth generation resident of the Columbia Valley, Ryan’s family originally moved to the area in 1921.

Ryan grew up in an artistic atmosphere, and his parents, Pat and Bonnie, encouraged him from a young age to draw and paint. He did workshops with local artists to learn more about drawing and painting and developing his artistic “eye”. Through all this he developed a self perception from a young age to become a craftsman and artist.

Ryan has fond memories of spending time in his grandfather Hal’s darkroom learning about photography. He also learned some of the subtleties of hand colouring black and white images, a specialty of Hal’s. Ryan was given a camera for his 12th birthday while on a family backpacking trip near the famed Bugaboo mountains. He also inherited his grandfather’s darkroom equipment when he passed away in the early 1980’s.

Spending time in the backcountry around Invermere was a regular occurrence for Ryan growing up. Whether with his family or friends, most weekends and holidays involved some sort of backcountry adventure. Trips to areas such as the Bugaboos, Lake O’Hara, the West Coast Trail, and Mount Assiniboine, all before he was 15, would permanently create a love and respect for the wild places around his home.

In 1988 Pat Bavin, Ryan’s father, started up Bavin Glassworks. Pat had been working on and learning about glassblowing since first starting to go the Pilchuck Glass School in 1981. Pilchuck was co-founded by Dale Chihuly in the early 70’s and would become instrumental in the Studio Glass Movement that Bavin Glassworks was destined to become a part of.

Soon after Bavin Glassworks started up, Ryan started spending time at the studio, learning from and working with his father. In the Spring of 1996, Ryan would go to Pilchuck for the first of what would become many times. On that first trip to Pilchuck, Ryan would meet many of the most influential glass artists practicing at the time.