We were lucky to catch up with Ray Katz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ray thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Prior to 1995 there were very few opportunities for sculptors to exhibit outdoors, ie. Public.Art. As communities of various configurations became aware that exhibiting public art could enhance there community as a cultural destination, the idea of exhibiting public sculpture and later murals became relevant.
As a result i was motivated to create more large scale sculpture that could be exhibited outdoors in. These sculptures were leased for periods of time from 1-3 years. That became the precedent for exhibiting sculpture all over the United States as money became available to produce more work by purchasing materials, hiring assistant’s, fabricating new work and creating methods of transportation for delivery and pickup.

Ray, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I began my career as a art student, to study the figure in drawing and sculpture.. I moved toward abstraction in graduate school exploring various found object compositions in metal. I was awarded am MFA in 1968. I taught drawing, sculpture and design at a very well equipped community college for 48 years. During this period I developed the resources to build metal sculpture in all sizes at my own studio in Pontiac MI., where I continue my artistic practice. I am best known for my large- scale metal sculpture but work successfully in a wide range of media. I have exhibited sculpture and furniture publicly and privately throughout the Mid-West, Mid- South, West, and overseas in Paris, France and Tokyo, Japan. I have also during this time developed a body of work in drawing, represented, by small and medium scale work that I exhibit in gallaries

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I manufacture my product(s) I already knew how to manufacture the product? I was able as a result of my university trainng, 40 years of teaching my craft and a commitment to building a space where i could actualize my ideas that allowed me to move into the business of creating sculpture for sale and lease.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: raykatzsculptor
• Facebook: ray katzsculptor or ray katz sculptor LLC
• Linkedin: ray katz sculptr llc
• Youtube: ray katz sculptor

Image Credits
Ray Katz Sculptor LLC