Artist’s Books

Ray collaborated on three artist’s books with his daughter, printer and publisher Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press. Together they integrated his drawings into letterpress printed pages of poems by contemporary authors.

According to Felicia, working with her father was a true honor. “He was a real professional, his work was deeply considered and always right on time. He was one of my most important teachers and my number one role model. I am so proud of the three books we made together.” A suite of Ray’s pen and ink drawings accompanied by single lines of his poetic text awaits publication.

Ray died of a stroke, paintbrush in hand, six months after finishing the artists’ book, Cosmogonie intime. He was painting on a guitar body for Aaron, his grandson-in-law, and had a dab of yellow paint on this forehead when he was found.

In 1996 Ray worked with his daughter Mira put together a book of his writings and drawings on aging, titled The Wages of Age. Here are a selection of page spreads from the book.