Behind the Brush
Ray Parks was born 1954 in the suburb town of Oceanside, New York City. As one of five children, he attended Catholic school until the family relocated to Birmingham, Michigan in 1964. After four short years, his family sought out a more rural area where Ray then attended Fraser High School. Like many artists, most of his free time was spent in the school art rooms. While Ray was recognized with awards in photography and sculpture, his true passion was ceramics. Eventually, when the high school ran out of art classes, the teachers allowed him to proctor the classroom ceramics kilns in exchange for graduation credits.
He continued his training, along with art history at Eastern Michigan University for two years. He was given his first show in 1974 at the Mondello Gallery. To his surprise, he sold every piece of ceramics on opening night and received four new commissions for bespoke items. Ray ran with the money, traveled to Europe and eventually traded ceramics to attend Architecture School at the Lawrence Institute of Technology. He figured this was the best of both worlds; he could make a decent living while still maintaining his artistic pursuits. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1978 and continued on to obtain a Bachelor of Architecture in 1980 while he worked at George Zonars Architectural firm.
In 1980, Ray moved once more to Carmel, California. He worked in three different Architectural firms in the design and planning departments. He was responsible for many architectural presentations for clients and government approvals. Shortly after arriving in Carmel, Ray married and welcomed three children together, all within four short years. Ray became a California licensed Architect in 1984 and established his own firm in downtown Carmel. His firm is still thriving on the Monterey Peninsula, providing services for commercial and residential clients today.
Ray has received a number of awards and accolades for his outstanding work and visionary expression.