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BRUNSWICK — The Unitarian Universalist Church, 1 Middle St., will host a monthlong art exhibit featuring the work of Jeremiah Ray — current living and working in coastal Maine — through March 4.
Ray, 37, received his bachelor’s degree at Maine College of Art and earned his master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While battling a diagnosis at 33 of advanced cancer, he returned to Brunswick to be near his supportive family. Although the cancer returned once, following additional treatment he is now heathy and continuing his passion for art.
“Art has always been in my life. I feel that it helped me process so much during my treatment and even now, in this place of recovery,” he said. “I feel lucky to have it as a stabilizing force that I can always call upon. Cancer, the struggle with it ,etc., transcends every word; art, for me at least, gave voice to these years.” Ray works in a variety of mediums, exploring notions of communication and the seemingly endless struggle to share and express our innermost fears and desires. His paintings shift drastically between subdued and meditative pieces that invite the viewer to rest within the stillness.
“As an educator I am keen on helping students develop their own language and means of communication. Through support, constructive feedback, and critiques, as well as maintaining a nurturing and safe environment, I hope to both guide and direct students in their quest from initial concept to completed work. I see the relationship between student and teacher as malleable and the role of the leader transferable. At the risk of sounding cliche, I have as much to learn from my students as they from me,” His current body of work focuses on paintings that are “very subdued, tranquil. I need this at this time in my life; I need slow, meditative … calm,” he said. He is also adding a eries of self-portraits. “These are quite different than my other pieces; I started these during treatment and have continued to create them.”
Ray works in a variety of mediums, exploring notions of communication and the seemingly endless struggle to share and express our innermost fears and desires. His paintings shift drastically between subdued and meditative pieces that invite the viewer to rest within the stillness to works of such brazen intensity the viewer is all but pushed away. Both styles, however, beg the viewer to bear witness, to pause and seek not only a dialogue with the artist but with themselves, too.
The exhibit is open during church hours, barring a competing event. For more information, call the church at 207-729-8515. Office hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m to 4 p.m. To contact the artist, email Jeremiah.ray@gmail.com
PHOTO: Artist Jeremiah Ray of Brunswick used carbon dust/charcoal to create the rectilinear lines of this piece. His art will be on exhbit in Brunswick. (Submitted photo)
