Circles of Influence: Barbara Hardy & Bob Ray

July 7, 2017 – December 2, 2017(This exhibition has passed.)

Circles of Influence highlights Barbara Hardy and Bob Ray, artists who have been living and working together for over twenty-five years, sharing a deeply rewarding intimate, creative and artistic bond. The exhibition brings together their artwork for only the second time in a two-person installation in the Turchin Center’s Main Gallery. The influence the artists have on one another and their shared love of rich texture and layered patterns are immediately apparent although each artist’s practice and techniques are unique and quite different from one other.

Circles of Influence: Barbara Hardy & Bob Ray

Bob Ray; Birthday Party

Bob Ray; Homecoming

BH & BR at home on Ocracoke Island, 2016

Bob Ray, A growing collection of hand-made crosses form found materials, 2015-16

Barbara Hardy; Kinsugi

Barbara Ray, Visible Ghosts

Circles of Influence: Part II

With Bob Ray and Barbara Hardy

October 12 & 13, 2017

Barbara Hardy and Bob Ray are inspired by found objects, patterns and designs discovered in nature. They have created a diverse body of work entitled Circles of Influence which is on exhibit in the Main Gallery of the Turchin Center until December 2, 2017. Bob and Barbara will host several workshops on October 12 & 13. Community members are invited to attend a workshop to discover their unique creative voice. The workshops are free and open to the public. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Call 828-262-3017 to reserve your spot.

Workshop schedule

Oct 12 (9am-12pm): Circles of Influence: Trash to Treasure (Session I)
Oct 12 (1-4pm): Circles of Influence: Trash to Treasure (Session II)
Oct 13 (9am-4pm): Circles of Influence: Painting with Barbara (Session III-A)
Oct 13 (9am-4pm): Circles of Influence: Mixed Media with Bob (Session III-B)

This project is supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.

About the artists

Bob Ray

Bob Ray, born just east of Kansas City, Missouri, works in a variety of media, from drawings, paintings, collage, and sculpture to correspondence and performance works. Ray is a 2015 recipient of the North Carolina Arts Fellowship. His aesthetic borrows heavily from the Dada and Fluxus movements, with a strong combination of word, gesture, and image. Since 1990, he has been very active in international correspondence art activities and projects in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Japan, United States, Bolivia, Spain, Hungary, Switzerland, and Latvia.

The artist writes: “A sense of something a little extra is the way I constructed an idea of life and then a life through art. I had an early body for music which evolved into performance, poetry, theater and eventually the desire to make marks in which I discovered a world can be described in the consecutive making of marks. With over forty years of practice, study, exhibiting, projects, exchanges it continues it being the fuse of creativity that engenders consciousness which is a life.”

Barbara Hardy

Barbara Hardy was born in Washington, North Carolina. She writes: “Art is, and has always been, an important and crucial part of my life. At an early age I drew, painted and made things. At nine years old, I knew and called myself an artist… Art fed me then and continues to feed me. I began this journey formally at Appalachian State University in art education, with many media interests. Later, I studied painting and metal at Eastern Carolina University. I was a young single mom, no longer married, with a child and running a small business. My education continued with workshops and summer craft schools. Early on, I exhibited in many different venues and taught occasionally through many North Carolina Art Council programs. In the last 25 years or so, I have shown at Emerge Gallery, Brevard College, Imperial Arts Center, various galleries on Ocracoke Island, Asheville and in private collections. Occasionally, I showed with my husband, Bob Ray, as well as in group and one person shows. After experimenting in many areas, I now concentrate in painting, sculpture and metal design.”

After attending college Barbara Hardy taught briefly in public schools, art enrichment programs and, later, was working with art teaching kids and adults through local arts councils, community colleges and volunteer programs. The focus was to bring art out to local rural communities and villages that might not have art opportunities. Many of these areas were small rural communities without much publicity exposure.