Ray Russ

Ray was born on May 26, 1930 in the small town of Corning, in Northern California. Art has always been a part of his life. Drawing and painting as a small boy, his first visit to a major San Francisco art museum was at seven years old. He was inspired and continued to develop his art into his teens. Encouraged by his family and teachers, he entered Chico State College, now California State University, Chico (1949) to become a teacher. He took extra art classes by going to summer school all through college. He worked in the college library where he poured over art books with pure passion. He graduated with a BA in Education (1953), did a graduate year in Fine Arts (1953-54), and began teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area (1954-60).

Ray loved teaching, long hours painting, visiting art galleries and museums. Then, on a whim, he went to summer school at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. Ray was enraptured. His life, art, teaching — nothing was the same. Everything was pure joy. He took a year off from teaching in order to live in Mexico (1960-61). He painted constantly, studied Spanish, taught English, and traveled. It was a gift to himself and his art.
Returning to the States, he taught in Willows, in Northern California (1960-63), studied Spanish at San Francisco State University, sponsored by the U.S. Government (1963-64), and then returned to the class room and taught Spanish from 1964-1967. Then, he left teaching, set up an art studio in Sebastopol,California (1967-68) and later moved to Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area where he lived from 1968-1969. Ray's two years in the studio produced a tremendous coming-together of all of his Mexican influences and consolidated his art. However, missing teaching, he returned to Corning as a Remedial Reading Specialist (1969-1988).

In Corning, his love of teaching, painting, family, home, and Northern California all came together in perfect balance including maintaining vital contact with loved ones and friends in Mexico.

Retired now in Chico, Ray enjoys an extremely active life painting, reading, seeing friends, and traveling. He wishes that every artist could have such a beautiful life.