Ray Hassard

Ray Hassard was born in Freeport NY in 1949. He grew up in the New York City area and studied at Pratt Institute. After moving to Buffalo NY in 1977, urban landscapes became his primary artistic theme. Ray won several commissions, most notably one to create and install a large wall piece for the subway the city was building. In 1987 he became co‑owner, publisher, and art director of American Record Guide, a bi‑monthly magazine reviewing classical music CDs. He and his husband have lived in Cincinnati, OH since 1985.

Ray is a Signature member of the Cincinnati Art Club, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPS), and the Pastel Society of America; MidAmerica Pastel Society has designated him Master Pastelist. He is a charter member of the Ohio Plein Air Society. In 2019 he was named Eminent Pastellist by the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS).

Great American Artworks has asked Ray to select his favorite pastels for the Ray Hassard, People and Places Assortment. His art was the subject of a feature article in Pastel Journal (Oct 2010) and was selected for the program book cover illustration at the 2011 IAPS convention. He was featured in Plein Air Magazine (Oct 2013) and again in Pastel Journal (March 2014) as winner of the Gold Medal Award in the Top 100 competition. He has been included in pastel, drawing and acrylic anthologies from North Light Publishing. His work has been included in the Art Renewal Center International Salon for the past eight years. Ray has been a Faculty Member at the annual Plein Air Convention and Exhibition (PACE).

Ray has been included in the Taft Art Museum's program Artists Reaching Classrooms in Cincinnati for over 5 years. He is moderator of the Signature Member Critique Group at the Cincinnati Art Club and has been chairperson for the Ohio Plein Air Society annual competition for the past two years.

Travel and painting are his two loves: he returned to India for the 6th time in 2009 to paint en plein air and paints in Europe every year. In 2013 he was Artist in Residence in Dinan, France for the month of June. Most recently he painted in Cuba in January 2020 for the second time.

For the past 10 years he has participated in many plein air competitions around the country such as Easton MD (5 times), Cumberland MD, San Angelo TX (3 times), Richmond VA, Niagara Falls, ON (2 times), Maui HI, and Eureka Springs AK. He won top awards at San Angelo, Richmond, and New Harmony IN and was award judge at the first Cape Ann Plein Air event. This year Ray is acceptance judge for the Harford County MD plein air event scheduled for October and one of the Jurors of Selection for the 2020 NOAPS Best of America National Juried Exhibition.

He is represented by: Cincinnati Art Galleries, 225 E 6th St, Cincinnati, Oh 45202 (513 381‑2128) and Oxford Gallery, 267 Oxford St, Rochester NY 14607 (585‑271‑5885)

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.