We recently connected with Ellen H. Ray and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ellen, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I feel like I am working on 2 particularly meaningful projects right now. I have a small solo exhibition coming up in September of 2024 at Ardest Gallery in The Woodlands.  I am finally giving attention to a theme that has been trying to get my attention for awhile. The show will feature paintings, drawings and small objects that speak of a shared physical, spiritual, and psychological human experience. The second project is a small group show bringing scientists and artists together for an exhibition at San Jacinto College South campus.

Ellen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I love being an artist in Houston. Houston has a big and generous art community with so many resources for education and development, interaction between artists, and opportunities to show. I am a member of the newly formed Throughline Collective, an artist run space located at the historic Isabella Court on Main Street. I’m very excited about our programming there, which includes 2 person exhibitions for members, occasional group exhibitions, artist talks, performances, and other events. Two things that have had the biggest impact on my work are beginning a daily meditation practice in 2013 that continues today, and moving to Houston in 2015. When I realized that my art practice and my meditation practice were really just one practice, work began flowing out of me, and my focus became more defined. I have had several exhibitions of my drawings, paintings, and small objects that bring together my interest in Science and Mystic teachings and experiences. I am currently making work for 3 shows in the next 12 months. I will have a small solo exhibition at Ardest Gallery in The Woodlands in September, I am co-curating a 5 person exhibition with Cathie Kayser, Heather L Johnson, Renata Lucia, Cindee Klement at San Jacinto College South which opens in October and has artists collaborating with scientists and researchers, and my 2 person member show with Heather L Johnson at Throughline will open end of March 2025.
With my work I look for the ways in which we connect to each other and the natural world through genetics and consciousness, especially where those connections lead to healing, or remembering, our own belonging among this natural world.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Reading and research is another important aspect of my work. In the last several years, my meditation and art practice has turned towards our connection to the earth through genetics and consciousness. In my work you will see themes of trees and root systems, vibration patterns, cellular structure, and cosmic imagery. The books I read stir up imagery, which sometimes enter my dreams and end up in my drawings. Some of these books are : Underland, by Robert MacFarlane, The Poetics of Space, by Bachelard, Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard, The Spell of the Sensuous, by David Abram, and so many others. A little book that has has a huge impact on my life is The Four Agreements. I try to keep an extra copy in my studio so I can offer it to visitors, because it holds great wisdom about how we communicate with each other.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I should mention here that part of my practice is speaking blessings. I’ve had an intense couple of years where my regular meditation practice was disrupted and I wasn’t able to sit in meditation like before. It was affecting my ability to make work. I decided to focus on the years of feeling supported by my Houston artist community. That has left me with an abundance of gratitude and the blessings just began naturally. I’m happy to say that my meditation practice has been restored, with the added work of speaking blessings. All of this is to say that the best thing we can do for each other as artists is to be generous. Be generous with your knowledge, with your resources, with your time. Most of all be generous in the way you speak to each other. ( I know a good book that can help- The 4 Agreements)😉

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.EllenHRay.com
• Instagram: Instagram@ehrayart
• Facebook: Facebook@EllenHRay

Image Credits
Jüergen Bode, Salzwedel Germany ( image of me)