The Imagination Never Dies: A Resident Artist’s Coming of Age

"I am now at the place in my sculptural ceramic pottery career, where I have set personal goals for deeper exploration into the complexities of humanity, curating and using art as an educational tool. I embrace the ancient historical clay arts to learn about humanity’s placement in our society on this Mother Earth. The art I create is inspired by community interaction with people of various backgrounds and cultures. I am informed by verbal communication with individuals I encounter about colors and their meaning to them. As a differently-abled blind artist, I welcome textures throughout my creations. The evolutionary pathway I have chosen involves deep exposure of emotions on so many levels. I am telling my own vignettes through my designs and puzzles." - Donna Ray
Donna received her community education in clay at Artistry located in West Bloomington, Minnesota. Ray enjoys hand building and occasionally wheel throwing to create useful sculptural art. She is a former BISQUE resident artist at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, and Donna was a part of the 2022 - 2023 Fearless Artist Curators Program. Her curatorial debut was featured at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery. She has an ongoing public project Messages in a Bottle that interested parties can participate in by mailing donnaraymessagesinabottle@gmail.com.