A California native, Roxie Ray was influenced early in life growing up around the undeveloped coastal hills and fields
and the watery backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. Now an award-winning artist, Ray's paintings capture the dignity and passion
of the human spirit in its interaction with these environs. "As an artist, I am inspired to try to surpass my own ordinariness,
to merge with something larger than myself," she reflects.
This desire to merge with something larger than oneself is evident in Ray's paintings of migrant and local field
workers. While a seemingly ordinary part of the landscape of Southern Californian life, Ray's portrayal of field workers
emphasizes the quiet power and dignity of this exploited and often ignored segment of society. "The field workers
that I paint express a multitude of eternal patterns," Ray reflects. "Psychologically and perhaps, romantically
for some, they represent the mother taking care of the interior and exterior world--planting, growing, and harvesting. Politically,
they represent exploitation of a class system that not only provides us with sustenance, but also a false sense of being better."
