Carl Ray

(1942-1978)

Cree Nation

Carl Ray was born in 1943 at Sandy Lake Reserve in Northern Ontario. A founding member of the Indigenous Group of Seven, Ray was an influential painter, illustrator and art educator in his short lifetime. Two additional founding members are also represented in this Art Path: Norval Morrisseau, and Daphne Odjig.

As a child, he was removed from his home and placed in a residential school, from which he fled at 15-years of age. When he returned to the Reserve, he attempted hunting and trapping, but was not raised with traditional skills, and was unsuccessful in making a living. He worked in Red Lake at the gold mines, for several years, before he became ill with tuberculosis and was made to convalesce in Fort William. When Ray returned to the Reserve, he met Morrisseau, who was already a successful artist, and had just returned from his debut exhibition in Toronto.

In his early career, Ray worked with Norval Morrisseau on a mural for the Indians of Canada pavilion at Expo ’67. Unfortunately, the mural does not survive, but Ray continued to paint large-scale murals on commission from Sandy Lake Primary School (1971) and at the Sioux Lookout Fellowship and Communication Centre in 1973.  As a stunning representative and innovator of the Woodland style of art, Carl Ray often incorporated the image of the Thunderbird in his paintings.

Carl Ray died, tragically, of knife wounds in 1978 when he was just 35 years old.

Works at Huron