Who am I? and How I did I get here?
I live in rural Southwestern Virginia with my beautiful wife, "Misty" and our son "Tavish". In addition I am a Assistant Professor at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, where I teach various art courses. We have a small department and this requires us each to be something of a "jack of all trades". My own primary means of expression is printmaking, but I also expand my artwork into the areas of papermaking, sculpture and painting. Growing up my father was in the military, so I have lived in numerous locations around the USA. I received my BFA from Arizona State University and then went overseas to receive my MFA from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland.
Artist Statement
The vast majority of my work deals with ideas of travel or passage. I began in grad school with the idea of the labyrinth and have expanded from there to a general theme of a person's journey or passage through life. Some of the works look forward toward possible paths to proceed on, while others look back at the paths we've taken. This all loosely follows the idea that it is the journey itself, rather that the perceived goal, that is of the greatest importance. I try to keep my work fresh by trying various approaches to my subject matter as well as changing the focus of what part of the journey or what type of passage that I am conceiving. I hope you enjoy my work.
Thanks
-Ray