Father-daughter Colorado team leave engineering careers behind to spread joy and whimsy through public art

By Kate Benesch

A father and daughter in Louisville have put a new spin on an early form of animation, and they're sharing their creations with their community. 

Eric and Meghan Ryterski are the creative team behind Ryterski Wonders. They make 3-D zoetropes, that they call Magic Canopies, combining engineering and art to create an illusion of motion.

The team conceptualizes each canopy, then they 3-D print hundreds of figures like undersea creatures or candy, and when placed on rotating platter, the characters seemingly come to life at the push of a button.

"A zoetrope is like a flip book," Meghan described. 

Eric added, "to achieve the animation effect, each little instance of a character has to be slightly different so that you get the effect of movement as the platter spins."

While these Magic Canopies have garnered a lot of attention while displayed around the Denver area, Meghan explained that Eric has been creating magic for his kids and neighbors for years.

"He's been doing fun things for the community for so long, we had an ice skating rink in the backyard growing up that all of the neighborhood kids would come over and play with, he has a super cool tree house, treasure chests hidden in the park nearby, so I think creating whimsy has always been a part of my life."

Whimsy is a word that continued to come up, and it perfectly describes their creations.

Eric told CBS News Colorado that he first saw a 3-D zoetrope at Disneyland years ago, and that is what inspired him to tinker with the idea of making his own. He perfected them over the years, inviting people to view them in his garage. 

It wasn't until during the COVID-19 pandemic that he decided to leave his engineering career behind to pursue making them full time, and was thrilled to have Meghan, also an engineer, join him.

"I just wanted a change," he explained. "I always loved that intersection between art and technology."

"I use engineering more now than I did in my actual engineering job," Meghan added.

Now, they hope to simplify the design of their zoetropes so that can easily be shipped elsewhere and enjoyed beyond Colorado.

"Airports, ski resorts, convention centers," Eric said are just a few high-traffic areas where they could spread whimsy.

He added why he thinks public art like this is really needed right now.

"It brings people together, we're so polarized, this is something people agree on, and you can have a conversation about it, and nobody's going to get mad." 

Magic Canopies can be seen publicly right now on Main Street in Downtown Louisville, and at Spectra Art Space on South Broadway in Denver.