Lynda Ray
Artist Statement
My paintings are containers of time. Layers consist of memory, location, and things that happen. Hints of events of the past linger deep within. New experiences overlay and mediate the past and bring about a new perspective. The whole consists of strata of layers of color. I look at the passage of time as a process condensed and compressed like a double exposure photograph. The end result allows multiple moments to appear at once. My original ideas for the piece give way to where the painting needs to go and unexpected shapes, color combinations and patterns collect and assert themselves. My process sometimes produces unexpected contours like the curve of the macrocosm, which is bent by mass and energy.
Artist Bio
Lynda Ray received a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA in 1987. That year she also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME where she studied under Agnes Martin with whom she maintained contact and visited over subsequent years. Two thoughts she references are “perfection is in the mind” from Agnes and the “work parallels the experience” from her college professor Rob Moore.
Ray has been awarded a grant in 2018 from CultureWorks Grant Program, artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Colony, Johnson, VT; the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM; and the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, Woodstock, NY. She has received fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Program and The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, Inc.
Lynda’s work and interview with Julie Karabenick are posted on the international forum Geoform.net. Her work is included in The Art of Encaustic Painting by Joanne Mattera.
Since 1987 her work has been widely exhibited in the US and have been featured in 20 solo exhibitions including the traveling exhibition; Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic at the Hunterdon Art Museum, NJ. Her work was also included in the exhibit Depth Perception at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA. Ray’s work is found in numerous private, corporate and public collections. She is a presenter and instructor at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA and teaches workshops in encaustic throughout the U.S.She lives and works in Richmond, Virginia.
Selected Exhibitions
2019
Waxing Lyrical, Space Gallery, Denver, CO Oct 4- Nov 9
8th Annual Encaustic Exhbition, Morpho Gallery, Chicago, IL
Folded Time, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA,
Strictly Painting 12, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA,
[Work], the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA June 21-Aug 18
Anything But Flat, Castle Hill Main Gallery, Truro, MA. Juror: Joanne Mattera.
2019 Instructor Exhibition, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg,TN
Momentum Space Gallery Annex Grand Opening ,Denver, CO
Melting Point: Contemporary Encaustic Work, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA. Curated by Giselle Gautreau.
Next Level, Arts and Cultural Center at Glen Allen, VA.
2019 Juried Exhibition, Rawls Museum Arts , Courtland, VA. Third Place Award.
2018
Featured Artist: 7th Annual Juried Encaustic Exhibition. Morpho Gallery, Chicago, IL
CultureWorks Grant Program 2018 recipient
Constellations, Dorothy Cochran and Lynda Ray, Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA
[work], The Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA.
The Blues, Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Stripes, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA May 5-22
Within Reach 2018, Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA
2017
The Best of 2017, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
Square Foot 5, Projects Gallery, Aqua Art Miami
Invitational, 2017, 2015 ,2013 www.projectsgallery.com
6th Annual Miniature Show, Gallery Flux, Ashland, VA www.galleryflux.com
Eighteenth Annual 5×7 Show, Kleinert/JamesCenter for the Arts.www.woodstockguild.org Thinksmall9,
Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA Oct 27-Dec 17. Virginian Artists 2017, Rawls Museum, Courtland, VA
[work], The Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA.
Lynda Ray: Color Merge, The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, VA
Arrowmont Instructor Exhibition, The Sandra J. Blain Gallery, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts,
Gatlinburg, TN
Depth Perception, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA curators: Joanne Mattera & Cherie Mittenthal
Black Tie (optional), Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Contempo, Flux Gallery, Ashland, VA
Next Level, The Cultural Arts Center, Glen Allen, VA
Within Reach 2017, Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA
2016
Square Foot Aqua Art Fair Miami, Projects Gallery, Miami, FL
The Best of 2016, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
Seventeenth Annual 5×7 Show, Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock, NY
5th Annual Miniature Show, Gallery Flux, Ashland, VA
Hotel Art Fair, Provincetown Inn, Provincetown, MA in conjunction with the 10th International Encaustic Conference
Lynda Ray: Shapes and Shadows, Williamsburg Contemporary Art Center, Williamsburg, VA (solo)
Within Reach 2016 Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA
[work], The Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA
2015
Sixteenth Annual 5×7 Show, Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock, NY
4th Annual Miniature Show, Gallery Flux, Ashland, VA
Square Foot Art Basel Miami,Projects Gallery, Miami, FL
Thinksmall, Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA
Pattern | Geometric – Organic, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
On the Brink, Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Attention: Intention, Old View National Bank, Marshall, VA
Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
Nature as Muse, Steamboat Springs Art Council, Steamboat Springs, CO
2014
3rd Annual Miniature Show, Flux Gallery, Ashland, VA
Summer Selections, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic, Traveling Group Exhibition, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
Subliminal, The Castle Hill Gallery, Truro, MA, Juror: Dan Addington
Metro Show, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, NYC
H.Scott November Gallery, Westminster Canterbery, RIchmond, VA
2013
Seven, Castle Hill Gallery, Truto, MA, Juror: Shawn Hill
Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic, Traveling Group Exhibition, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA, Curator: Michael Giaquinto
The Elephant in the Room, Laconia Gallery, Boston, MA, Curators: Linda Cordner and James Hull
2012
Winter Solstice, Selby Fleetwood Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Capital One, Richmond, VA
Rawls Museum Arts, Courtland, VA, Juror: Marcy Rosenblat
The Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
New Waves, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA
Slant wall Gallery, The Cultural Arts Center, Glen Allen, VA
Painting: Color Dominates, Evans Encaustics, Sonoma, CA (online)
Art and Music, Nancy Natale, E. Hampton, MA (online)
Gallery Flux, Ashland, VA
2011
Wax Poetic, Nicolsberg Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Melted, Petersburg Area Art League, Petersberg, VA
Surface Attraction, Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
Playing with Fire, Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ
Beeswax, Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, VA, Curator: Frank Heller (solo)
2010
Eleventh Annual 5 by 7 Show, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
Small Wonder, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
Art San Diego, Brenda Taylor Gallery, San Diego, CA
Beeswax, Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, VA, Curator: Frank Heller (solo)
Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
Ripple Effect, MCV, Richmond, VA, Curator: P.Muzi Branch (solo)
Vast Gallery, Washington, DC (two person)
Best Foot Forward, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
Home is Where the Art Is, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
2009
Small Wonder, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
Visual Arts Center traveling to Capital One Gallery, Richmond, VA
bookart@artspace, Invitational, Richmond, VA
Tenth Annual 5 by 7 Show, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
Reconstructing Time, Yavapai College, Prescott, AZ
Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY (two person)
Spring Forward, Artizen Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
GeoMetrics II, Gallery onetwentyeight, New York, NY
Bruce Gallery, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA (solo)
NYU 32nd small works, 80 Washington Square East, NYC, NY
Publications
“Meet Lynda Ray.” The Boston Voyager, July 30th 2018, http://bostonvoyager.com/interview/meet-lynda-ray/
