Ray Allen

b. 1930, Dickson, Tennessee
d. 2000

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbour, MI
Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, PA

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2004 Nature Transformed, Wood Art from the Bohlen collection, University of
Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
1999 Rings of Time: Wooden Visions for the Millennium, West Valley Art
Museum, Sun City, AZ
Selected Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Solo Exhibition, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1998-99 Design in Wood, Award for Turned/Segmented (1998-99), San Diego Fine
Woodworkers Association "President's Award" (1999), Award for
Most Innovative Use of Materials (1998), Del Mar Fair, Del Mar, CA
1995-99 Turned Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Collectors of Wood Art Conference, San Francisco, CA
1997 Out of the Woods, Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, AZ
Echoes of the Southwest, Craft Alliance Gallery, St. Louis, MO
1996-2000 Turned Wood - Small Treasures, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1996 Solo Exhibition, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1994 Redefining the Lathe Turned Object III, Arizona State University,
Tempe, AZ
National Exhibition of the American Association of Woodturners, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
1992-93 Turned Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1993 Boulder City Arts Festival, "Best of Show" Award, Boulder City, NV
1992 Solo Exhibition, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Wood Turning as an Art Form: The Irving Lipton Collection,
Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA
The Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA
1991 Southwest Arts and Crafts Festival, "Director's Award", Albuquerque, NM
1990 Woodturning: Vision and Concept II, Arrowmont School of Arts and
Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2004 Nature Transformed, Wood Art from the Bohlen Collection, Hudson Hills
Press

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ray Allen was born on a small farm near Dickson, Tennessee in 1930. Upon finishing high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. Four years later, after receiving an Honorable Discharge, Allen became a carpenter and spent the next thirty years in construction. He began turning in 1986. Self-taught, Allen became an award winning artist, creating segmented and turned vessels.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

After retiring in Arizona, I found myself getting involved in many different enterprises. None, though, gave me the satisfaction I received from creating something using my own imagination and hands. Even after thirty years in construction, I still had the desire to construct something. After spending a year and a half playing on the lathe, my desire turned into an obsession.

In 1988, I decided to direct all of my energies towards segmented wood turning. I had finally discovered something that I was meant to do. My inspiration comes from prehistoric and present day Southwest pottery. The elegant forms and intricate designs present me with the challenge that I need to capture their everlasting beauty in wood.

I believe that I have captured, through trial and error, the same satisfaction in viewing a completed piece as those who have inspired me.