Artist Biography & Facts

Ray Roberts

Born and raised in Southern California, Ray Roberts became a plein air* painter of desert and coastal landscapes.

He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Art Center College of Design* in Pasadena.  His first studio was in Scottsdale, Arizona, and in 1997, he and his artist wife, Peggi Kroll Roberts, and their three children moved to Angel's Camp, California to a small ranch.  He is a regular instructor of painting at the Scottsdale Artists' School.

In August, 2000, Roberts won Best of Show for his painting Curtis Creek at the American Impressionist Society's* show in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Source:
Southwest Art, October 2004



* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

Ray Roberts is one of California's most respected Plein Air artists. He has recently won the Gold Medal for "Best Painting" at the California Art Club and the Artists' Choice Award, the highest accolade from fellow artists, at three major Southwest art events. Ray Roberts is best known for his seascapes, figurative work, and majestic views of California and the Southwest.

Ray Roberts' vibrant use of color, bold textures, and sensitivity to shifting patterns of light give life and movement to his paintings. They are to be experienced, not merely observed.

Inspired by such early California impressionists as Hanson Puthuff, William Wendt, and William Ritschel, Ray Roberts seeks to capture the luminous, golden light and the magnificent, vanishing landscapes of his native state. Like his other great hero, Maynard Dixon, Ray Roberts shares a reverence for the land and a marked spirituality in his work.

Ray Roberts believes in the importance of artistic legacy. "There's a brotherhood of painters who came before me and who will come after. We speak in the past, present, and future. We talk about our experience and personality, our torments and exhilarations; we talk about the beauty of the fleeting light, time and of our family, friends and acquaintances."

Born in 1954, Ray Roberts grew up in an Orange County with orange groves, before the days of freeways and sprawling housing developments. It has given him an enduring affection for the untamed, undeveloped California of his youth.
One boyhood neighbor was painter Evelyn Nunn Miller, who would let Ray Roberts into her studio to retrieve the balls he'd hit over her fence. Later, after the early death of his father and mother's ill-health, Ray Roberts was sent to Orme School, a beautiful, ranch-style boarding school in the Arizona desert. Its strong fine arts program helped Ray Roberts to discover his artistic talent.

He then attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he studied under John Asaro. He has also studied under Dan McCaw, Len Chmiel, and Mark Daily.

Art Center is where Ray Roberts also met his wife, impressionist painter Peggi Kroll. While dating, the two of them would go out nightclubbing, to sketch rather than dance! It has been a successful partnership ever since.

Like many successful artists before him, Ray Roberts first pursued a career as an illustrator, establishing a studio in Los Angeles and then Scottsdale, Arizona. He got up the courage to switch to fine art in 1992 and has never looked back. Ray and Peggi now live with their three children and assorted animals on a 20 acre ranch in Angel's Camp, an old California gold rush town, surrounded by the oak-studded hills which he frequently paints.

The great outdoors is RayRoberts' studio. A bit of an adventurer, he's been known to backpack for several days into the wilderness, set up his easel on a cliff edge, or in the surf, for just the right setting.

Awards and Affiliations
Signature Member - Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA)
Signature Member - California Art Club (CAC)
Signature Member - Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA)
Signature Member - Northwest Rendezvous

2007 - Haggin Museum, Stockton

2007 - Santa Lucia Preserve, Invitational En Plein Air, Carmel, CA

2007 Exhibitor, Arizona: A Millennium of Arizona Art, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2004 Gold Medal for "Best Painting" at the California Art Club's 94th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, California
2004 Artists' Choice Award- Laguna Plein Air Invitational Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California
2004 Artists' Choice Award- Maynard Dixon Country Invitational Mount Carmel, Utah
2003 Artists' Choice, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California
2003 Artists' Choice Award, Carmel Plein Air Festival, Carmel, California
2003 Honorable Mention, Carmel Plein Air Festival, Carmel, California
2003 Maynard Dixon Award, Sonoran Desert Invitational, Tucson, Arizona
2002 Honorable Mention, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California
2001 Honorable Mention, Scene on the Straight, Vallejo, California
2001 American Artist Magazine Award for Excellence, Oil Painters of America National Juried Show, Palm Desert, California
2000 Best of Show, American Impressionist Society, Cincinnati, Ohio
1999 Honorable Mention, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California
1999 Best Seascape, Ebell Club Annual Art Show, Los Angeles, California
1999 Artists' Choice Award, Carmel Plein Air Festival, Carmel, California
1995 Best of Show, Phippen Memorial Art Show, Prescott, Arizona
1995 First Place Oil, Phippen Memorial Art Show, Prescott, Arizona
1995 Best of Show, Beaver Creek Art Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado
1994 Best Portrait, Oil Painters of America, Chicago, Illinois
1994 Tara Fredeicks Award, Oil Painters of America, Chicago, Illinois
1994 Best of Show, Beaver Creek Art Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado
1993 Best of Show, Beaver Creek Art Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado

More Selected Exhibitions

2007 Santa Lucia Preserve, Invitational En Plein Air, Carmel, CA

2007 Arizona: A Millennium of Arizona Art, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2003 Desert Landscapes Show, California Art Club
2003 On Location in Malibu, Frederick Weisman Museum of Art, California
2003-01 Northwest Rendezvous, Montana
2002 Museum of the Rockies Invitational Show, Colorado
2002 American Impressionist Society Show, California
2001 American Impressionist Society Show, California
2001 Two Person Show, Medicine Man Gallery, New Mexico
2001 California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition, California
2000 American Impressionist Society Show, Ohio

Born in 1957, Ray Roberts is a California native who spent his formative years amidst the picturesque landscapes of Orange County. Raised among the verdant orange groves before the region saw the rise of freeways and urban sprawl, Roberts developed a deep-seated appreciation for the unspoiled beauty of California's pristine landscapes, a sentiment that would later echo through his art.
Following the untimely passing of his father in 1969 and his mother's ailing health, Roberts was sent to the Orme School, a serene ranch-style private boarding school nestled amidst the rugged terrain of the Arizona desert. 

It was here, set along the tranquil Ash Creek and surrounded by the sprawling Orme Cattle Ranch that he first began to explore his artistic inclinations. The school’s robust fine arts program helped nurture Roberts’ artistic talents and lay the foundation for his future career.

Roberts pursued a formal art education at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he studied under the acclaimed artist John Asaro, and graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1978. To further refine his skills, Roberts studied under esteemed artists Dan McCaw, Len Chmiel, Ned Jacob, and Mark Daily.

While a student at ArtCenter, Roberts met his future wife, Impressionist painter Peggy Kroll. During their courting days, the art-minded couple would go out nightclubbing for the purpose of sketching rather than dancing! They were married in 1984, and have continued a successful partnership ever since.

Like many fine artists before him, Roberts began his career as an illustrator, establishing his first studio in Los Angles and then in Scottsdale, Arizona. He transitioned his career to fine art in the early 1990s. Today, Ray Roberts is nationally recognized as a multi-award-winning artist for his atmospheric plein air paintings of California’s dynamic coast and majestic scenic landscapes. Additionally, his scenes of the Southwest and figurative work are also sought-after paintings.

Through his evocative canvases, Ray Roberts pursues a sense of time and place, and invites viewers to embark on a visual journey to find the rhythm, beauty and intricacies in nature. He seeks an interplay of light and shadow, color and form, and searches for discovery and familiarity. Ray Roberts’ use of vibrant color, sweeping brushstrokes, bold textures, and his sensitivity to shifting patterns of light and atmosphere, project life and movement to his paintings.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Signature Artist, California Art Club Signature Artist, Oil Painters of America
Signature Artist, American Impressionist Society

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS
2020 Irvine Museum Award, California Art Club 109th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, Hilbert Museum of California Art (winner, La Jolla Cliffs)
2017 Best in Show, Maynard Dixon Country, Thunderbird Foundation, Mt Carmel, UT
2015 Best in Show, Maynard Dixon Country, Thunderbird Foundation, Mt Carmel, UT
2015 Best in Show, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna Art Museum
2012 Gold Medal for Best Painting at the California Art Club 101st Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition, held at Autry National Center, Los Angeles (winner, Crashing Waves at Garrapata)

2011 Best in Show- Laguna Plein Air Invitational Laguna Art Museum
2011 Best of Show, Maynard Dixon Country, Thunderbird Foundation, Mt Carmel, UT
2007 Heritage Award, Irvine Heritage Show, San Juan Capistrano, California
2006 Best of Show, Irvine Heritage Show, San Juan Capistrano, California
2006 Artists’ Choice Award, Best in Show, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna Art Museum
2005 Friends of OPA Award, Oil Painters of America, Chicago, Illinois
2004 Gold Medal for Best Painting at the California Art Club 94th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition, as well as Artists' Choice Award, held at Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena (winner, Sierra Siesta)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Western Art Collector; Southwest Art; and PleinAir Magazine

Born and raised in Southern California, Ray Roberts is a landscape painter whose earliest artistic recollections are of California Impressionism. He attended the Art Center of Design in Pasadena, California, and studied under John Asaro, Len Chmiel, and Mark Daily. Like many successful artists before him, Ray pursued a career as illustrator, establishing a studio in Los Angeles and later Scottsdale, Arizona.

He has devoted all of his time to painting for the last several years. He is a plein-air artist who loves the outdoors and is at ease with nature. He is exceptional in his visual orientation, and his eloquence is expressed in his art. He believes there are several elements to his love of painting. The most important is having a point of view. The more understanding and skill one has in presenting an idea on canvas, the more accurate the point of view.

Presently residing in California, Ray paints throughout the Southwest, with the outdoors as his studio. The emotion and beauty captured in his work are the results of the process rather than the objective. Ray has attracted a growing audience of collectors and has received numerous awards of excellence.