Ray Key
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b. 1942, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Abingdon Museum, Oxford, England
Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
British Council, London, England
Contemporary Craft Museum, Honolulu, HI
Detroit Institute of Arts & Crafts, Detroit, MI
Glamorgan County Council, Wales
Hereford Museum, England
International Craft Museum, Kuala Lumpur
Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, Germany
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Norwich Museum, England
Parnham House, Dorset, England
Southern Arts, England
Stoke Museum, England
West Midlands Arts, Birmingham, England
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2005-08 Turning Wood Into Art, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London
2007 Turned & Sculptured Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Tracing the Line, Ireland
Turning 20-Still Evolving, American Association of Woodturners
2005 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY
British Woodturning, Nottingham
1993-06 Turned Wood - Small Treasures, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Put A Lid On It: Containing Human Experience, American Association of Woodturners,
Brand Library Art Galleries, Glendale, CA
2000-02 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY and Chicago, IL
1998 Collectors of Wood Art Forum, San Francisco, CA
Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
1995 Six of the Best, British Israel Arts Foundation, Jerusalem, Israel
A Celebration of Craftsmen, Cheltenham College, Cheltenham, England
Showcase: Three Turners, Contemporary Applied Arts, London, England
1994 Boxes and Lidded Containers, Galerie für Angewandte Kunst, Munich, Germany
1991 Kunsthandwerker, Hamburg Museum, Hamburg, Germany
Crafts Open, Birmingham Museum,Birmingham, England and touring
1990 Clothes, Clay and Wood, British Council, touring South East Asia
Made on the Lathe, Rufford Craft Centre, Nottingham, England
1990 Touch Wood, Walsall Art Gallery, Walsall, England
1989 Wood and Paintings, Country Works Gallery, Newton, England
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2003 "Moving the Goalposts", Woodturning Magazine, No. 124, June
1998 Key, Ray, Woodturning with Ray Key, Batsfords
1997 Key, Ray, "McNaughton Centre Saving Tool Review", Woodturning Magazine, No. 58,
November
1992 Key, Ray, Woodturners Workbook, Batsfords
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ray Key has been turning wood for over forty years, since 1973 it has been his full time occupation. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions worldwide (over 200 at this time).
Since 1980 he has travelled widely, being invited to demonstrate at International Seminars in USA, Canada, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Israel, France and Germany. He has also run teaching workshops in most of these countries.
His work is in many major private collections worldwide and in the permanent collections of a number of museums.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Ever since I started turning, purity of form has been the driving force for my creations. The minimalist approach is embraced in the ongoing quest to produce objects of beauty and elegant simplicity. I am a great believer in the object as a whole; all elements should be in sympathetic harmony with one another, not a disjointed assemblage of different ones.
My design bywords are, keep it simple stupid, let the wood speak for itself, and if in doubt leave it out.
This approach is not a simple as it sounds; as was noted by Herbert Ypma in his book London Minimum. In the section that featured my work, entitled the Craft of Clarity he noted:
"By eliminating all distractions he allows the true attraction of the material to surface. All the inherent beauty that the wood has to offer is magnified by the completely naked honesty of his work. Yet Key’s is probably the most demanding of paths to choose because it is so unforgiving. There is no room for mistakes. The work must be precise and flawless, otherwise the eye is distracted."
In Japan they have a word for it Wabi, a word that literally means ‘voluntary poverty’.
Wood has always been my medium it has so many nuances: warmth, beauty, colour, smell, unpredictability and tactility just to mention a few.
I have always had empathy with the late Professor David Pye’s statement, "The difference between the thing which sings and the thing which is forever silent, is often very slight indeed."
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Abingdon Museum, Oxford, England
Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
British Council, London, England
Contemporary Craft Museum, Honolulu, HI
Detroit Institute of Arts & Crafts, Detroit, MI
Glamorgan County Council, Wales
Hereford Museum, England
International Craft Museum, Kuala Lumpur
Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, Germany
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Norwich Museum, England
Parnham House, Dorset, England
Southern Arts, England
Stoke Museum, England
West Midlands Arts, Birmingham, England
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2005-08 Turning Wood Into Art, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London
2007 Turned & Sculptured Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Tracing the Line, Ireland
Turning 20-Still Evolving, American Association of Woodturners
2005 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY
British Woodturning, Nottingham
1993-06 Turned Wood - Small Treasures, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Put A Lid On It: Containing Human Experience, American Association of Woodturners,
Brand Library Art Galleries, Glendale, CA
2000-02 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY and Chicago, IL
1998 Collectors of Wood Art Forum, San Francisco, CA
Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
1995 Six of the Best, British Israel Arts Foundation, Jerusalem, Israel
A Celebration of Craftsmen, Cheltenham College, Cheltenham, England
Showcase: Three Turners, Contemporary Applied Arts, London, England
1994 Boxes and Lidded Containers, Galerie für Angewandte Kunst, Munich, Germany
1991 Kunsthandwerker, Hamburg Museum, Hamburg, Germany
Crafts Open, Birmingham Museum,Birmingham, England and touring
1990 Clothes, Clay and Wood, British Council, touring South East Asia
Made on the Lathe, Rufford Craft Centre, Nottingham, England
1990 Touch Wood, Walsall Art Gallery, Walsall, England
1989 Wood and Paintings, Country Works Gallery, Newton, England
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2003 "Moving the Goalposts", Woodturning Magazine, No. 124, June
1998 Key, Ray, Woodturning with Ray Key, Batsfords
1997 Key, Ray, "McNaughton Centre Saving Tool Review", Woodturning Magazine, No. 58,
November
1992 Key, Ray, Woodturners Workbook, Batsfords
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ray Key has been turning wood for over forty years, since 1973 it has been his full time occupation. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions worldwide (over 200 at this time).
Since 1980 he has travelled widely, being invited to demonstrate at International Seminars in USA, Canada, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Israel, France and Germany. He has also run teaching workshops in most of these countries.
His work is in many major private collections worldwide and in the permanent collections of a number of museums.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Ever since I started turning, purity of form has been the driving force for my creations. The minimalist approach is embraced in the ongoing quest to produce objects of beauty and elegant simplicity. I am a great believer in the object as a whole; all elements should be in sympathetic harmony with one another, not a disjointed assemblage of different ones.
My design bywords are, keep it simple stupid, let the wood speak for itself, and if in doubt leave it out.
This approach is not a simple as it sounds; as was noted by Herbert Ypma in his book London Minimum. In the section that featured my work, entitled the Craft of Clarity he noted:
"By eliminating all distractions he allows the true attraction of the material to surface. All the inherent beauty that the wood has to offer is magnified by the completely naked honesty of his work. Yet Key’s is probably the most demanding of paths to choose because it is so unforgiving. There is no room for mistakes. The work must be precise and flawless, otherwise the eye is distracted."
In Japan they have a word for it Wabi, a word that literally means ‘voluntary poverty’.
Wood has always been my medium it has so many nuances: warmth, beauty, colour, smell, unpredictability and tactility just to mention a few.
I have always had empathy with the late Professor David Pye’s statement, "The difference between the thing which sings and the thing which is forever silent, is often very slight indeed."