"Best Local Artist" Exhibits at Clayton Center

The work of Raleigh Painter Eric McRay, named "Best Local Artist" by Metro magazine, will be on display during July at The Clayton Center.

The exhibition, his second at the Center, is titled “Eric McRay’s Greatest Hits: An Exhibition of Coffee, Jazz, and North Carolina Sceneries.” McRay first brought his bright, colorful, acrylic-on-canvas paintings to Clayton in August of 2008.

"My art is my diary,” McRay says. "My inspiration comes from my passions, my adventures and my misadventures."

His paintings will be on display from 8 am to 5 pm Monday-Friday in the center’s lobby. The show, sponsored by Clayton Visual Arts, is free and is open to everyone.

McRay was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and art has been part of his life since an early age when schoolmates often paid him to draw pictures on their book covers.

Most of McRay’s work is done in acrylics on canvas or in collages. He likes acrylics because they are fast, clean, efficient, fast-drying, versatile and archival. As for collage, he said, “I create in collage, because it is alchemy. I'm able to make something of tremendous value out of inexpensive materials. It's like turning straw into gold, making microchips out of sand.”

He earned a BFA degree at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, which he attended on a four-year scholarship. In 1998, he was juried into Raleigh’s prestigious Artspace, where he has served as vice-president and president of the Artspace Artists Association, as well as on their board of directors.

His paintings hang at NC State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, SAS Institute, Western Wake Hospital, NCCU Art Museum, American Tobacco Campus, Duke University Medical Center, Duke Eye Center, and First South Bank, as well as in many private collections locally, nationally and internationally.

He keeps a daily work schedule at Artspace Studio 205. His website is www.mcraystudios.com