John
Goray- From the Collections of the Kenosha Public Museum
corrected
exhibit dates:
March
5 through April 23, 2011
Description
for attached pictures: Goray 3: Birds, one in a series of 12 oil
paintings.
Goray
12: Gaela 10-10 oil painting
Goray
27: Untitled shadowbox collage
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Peggy Gregorski, Development Coordinator
262-653-4428
Feb.
24, 2011
Kenosha
Public Museum
5500
First Avenue, Kenosha, WI 53140
262-653-4140
KENOSHA,
WI A new exhibit featuring the artwork of John Goray will go on
display beginning March 5 in the South Gallery of the Kenosha Public
Museum.
The
display display of works by Goray includes a selection of paintings,
drawings, and small sculptural works from the collections of the
Kenosha Public Museum. Most of these pieces were acquired by the
Museum through private donations, most recently from two of Goray's
friends -- the late Tom Anger, Racine, and former Kenoshan Ron Ruble
of Madison and Punta Gorda, Fla.
John
Goray (1912-1990) lived and worked in Kenosha from 1943 to 1979. His
career spanned 60 years and included local and national gallery
shows, private commissions, and intensive commercial work. He studied
at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Minneapolis Art Institute, the
New York Art Students League, and the Chuinard Institute, Los
Angeles. He worked at Walt Disney Studios as an animator on the
feature-length films Snow
White and Bambi,
and is credited with creating Thumper the rabbit, Bambi's sidekick.
He
worked as Art Director for many Chicago firms, including the now
defunct Chicago Daily News, Earle Ludgin Agency, Young and Rubicam
Advertising Agency, and Marshall Field and Co.- for which he designed
the iconic signature logo.
With
his large, unflinching personality, mercurial spirit, and unorthodox
teaching style, Goray inspired many Kenosha and Racine area artists
to carry on his legacy as artists and educators. He did not consider
himself a teacher, but a motivator whose main goal was to wake people
up to their own creative potential and get them involved in art.
Goray
taught for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Carthage College,
Wustum Museum, Racine, the Kenosha Public Museum, the Kenosha Art
Association, and the Racine Art Guild. He was one of the driving
forces behind the creation of the Racine Art Guild's Annual Starving
Artist Fair, the innovative Harbor West Colony, the Art Club, and the
Upstairs-Downstairs Galleries at Kemper Center, where he also taught.
Goray
moved to San Jose, California, with his second wife in 1979. There
his focus shifted to sculptural works and bronze casting, until
health problems and the rigors of foundry work brought his full
attention back to painting and drawing. He was a prolific painter in
all mediums and in any size, from tiny panels to huge canvases, and
filled countless sketchbooks with quick, insightful, and often quirky
observances of the world around him. His subject matter ranged from
portraits, figures, and flowers, to collages, Cubist- and
Expressionist-inspired abstractions, and non-representational works.
Goray
identified 13 Periods in his work from 1951-1965, such as Cubist,
Tachist, Salutes, Evolvements, Impastos, and Experimentals. Birds and
Native American-inspired totems and shamen were recurring themes
throughout his career. Goray's work is held in many private and
corporate collections across the country.
The
Kenosha Public Museum curated a John Goray Retrospective in spring of
1987, featuring works on loan from his extended family. An endowment
given in memory of John Goray by his wife, Liz Goray, from 1996 to
2010, allowed the Kenosha Public Museum to host the yearly Goray
Art Workshop, an
intensive, one-day workshop for high-school art students to study
with a professional artist. Goray's video interview with art
historian Erica Kubic of San Jose State University is available to
educators through the Education Department of the Kenosha Public
Museum.
--
Kris Kochman
Special Events Coordinator
Kenosha Public Museums
262-653-4406
kkochman@kenosha.org
