Short Bio
Ray Lawler, Artist, Photographer, Geographer, Writer, Traveler Bio I was born in Connecticut during the Second World War. Other than visiting relatives in Long Island I never left the state until I joined the Navy in 1963. That experience turned me into a traveler want-to-be. Fortunately, after getting 2 academic degrees, I satiated my ambition to be. I have lived, worked, or traveled in more than 85 countries around the globe. And, I got paid for most of it. I currently live in Florida, with two cats and Wonder Woman. I have been, at various times a logistics consultant, photojournalist, sculptor, writer, and currently an award-wining artist. I am a graduate of the US Navy School of Photography and have a BA and MA in Economic and Transportation Geography. Prior to settling into my profession as a port and logistics expert, I also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, graphic artist, and free-lance photojournalist. I am primarily a self-taught artist. At 3 years old I was the happy recipient of a box of Crayola’s from my grandpa. My first work of art reached about 3 feet high and extended along all 4 walls of my bedroom. Momma was furious and was going to give me a good whooping. Grandpa came in just in time and yelled. “Don’t touch that boy. I guess I should have given him some paper too.” About 3 weeks later I was probably the youngest kid in my neighborhood with his own drafting table. I started painting by numbers at 5 and completed a free hand painting of Saint Thaddeus at 7. Why? Because he had a huge beard that was easy to draw and paint. At 13 I completed a detailed pencil drawing of the “Ben Hur” chariot race after viewing the movie 10 times. (It was ultimately stolen off my mother’s wall some 25 years later by an intruder.) Subsequently, I illustrated both my high-school class year book and my squadron cruise book during the Vietnam War. Professional Career After leaving graduate school in 1977, I worked as the head of an economic development agency in Connecticut followed by a 4-year stint as the chief economist for the Regional Planning Commission in Albany, NY. My life changed when I was offered the job as an Assistant Director and Head of Planning for the Delaware River Port Authority in Camden, NJ. After retiring in 1995, I established the RALawler Consulting Co. Inc. and sub-contracted with a variety of international consulting firms, the World and Asian Development Banks, and the US Agency for International Development. I managed major port and logistics projects throughout Africa, Asia, Central and South America as well as the Northern Pacific basin. For my 70th birthday, I took a bus ride from Kathmandu in Nepal to Lhasa in Tibet. The 8-day journey crossed the front range of the Himalayas, several plateaus, and three additional ranges higher than 20,000 feet to reach the capital. There I fulfilled a lifelong dream to visit and explore the Portola Palace, one of the great architectural wonders of the world. I filled a good size sketchbook of this experience as well. Artistic Philosophy The schematic and stylistic foundations of my art emanate from my experience as a traveler. I do not separate art into the usual categories of painting, photography, sculpture or crafts. Art is art. I use my camera as a mechanism for recording un-posed images of people or animals doing their thing, in their environment, as they live. I try to enunciate their ideas, interpret and expand on the motifs that define their cultures, and produce imagery that goes beyond mere decorations. I want my work to have visual meaning, to say something, to impart a message. I try to incorporate these concepts into my sketches, paintings and other mixed media creations which often include sculptural elements. Stylistically, I am a disciple of Dali, incorporating intense realism, vivid color, and visual/story telling in figurative paintings and drawings. My creations focus on three thematic areas. The first is transcendental, the exploration of human existence and thought through allegory and illusion. I also try to capture the visual realities of life as lived here, abroad or in my imagination. The third is to incorporate the human-animal form in dynamic compositions. Over the course of my artistic career, I have completed more than 100 paintings, 1,000 drawings, and shot 150,000 plus photographs from around the world. I am also the author of , “Tales of a Traveler”, Surviving the Peccadillos of Life in Far Away Places. It includes photographs, drawings, and paintings that I shot, drew or painted during these adventures. The book is available Amazon Books dot com. I work under the motto: The world is my studio; Life is my Subject. Exhibitions Tales of a Traveler Exhibition, Art Center Manatee, Bradenton Fl, November 1-28/2023 Historic Spanish Point Museum, Osprey Florida, Jan-Feb 2019 New Century Gallery, N.Y., N.Y, 2013 & 2014 Agora Gallery N.Y., N.Y, Jan-April 2010, Awards Best in Show for “Poly-phobic Gardens”, Florida’s Finest Exhibition, Sarasota Art Center 2016 followed by a Second place in 2017 with “And the Band Played On” First Place for “Cooling Off”, Veteran’s Show, Sarasota, FL 2016 followed by a Best in Show for “Turbaned Beggar” 2017 Second Place for “Children of the Mountains”, Art Center Manatee Autumn Show, 2017, Best in Show for “Nocturnal Fantasies” in 2018 and the “Bengali Fisherman” 2019 in the autumn art exhibitions sponsored by Art and Frame of Sarasota FL. Best in Show “Colors of Life” Exhibition for “Australian Steeplechase” June2-25 followed by Best in Show for the “From the Mind’s Eye” exhibition for “Inquisitive”, June 29-August 16 at the Art Center Manatee, Bradenton Fl. Second Place “Evolution Over Time” September exhibition 2024, Art Center Manatee, Bradenton Fl. Contact information: raymondlawler@comcast.net Raymond Lawler 5716 Garden Lakes Fern Bradenton, FL 34203, Tel. 610-620-4452 Thank you, Ray Lawler
Statement
Ray Lawler, Artist, Photographer, Geographer, Writer, Traveler
Bio
I was born in Connecticut during the Second World War. Other than visiting relatives in Long Island I never left the state until I joined the Navy in 1963. That experience turned me into a traveler want-to-be. Fortunately, after getting 2 academic degrees, I satiated my ambition to be. I have lived, worked, or traveled in more than 85 countries around the globe. And, I got paid for most of it.
I currently live in Florida, with two cats and Wonder Woman. I have been, at various times a logistics consultant, photojournalist, sculptor, writer, and currently an award-wining artist. I am a graduate of the US Navy School of Photography and have a BA and MA in Economic and Transportation Geography. Prior to settling into my profession as a port and logistics expert, I also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, graphic artist, and free-lance photojournalist.
I am primarily a self-taught artist. At 3 years old I was the happy recipient of a box of Crayola’s from my grandpa. My first work of art reached about 3 feet high and extended along all 4 walls of my bedroom. Momma was furious and was going to give me a good whooping. Grandpa came in just in time and yelled. “Don’t touch that boy. I guess I should have given him some paper too.” About 3 weeks later I was probably the youngest kid in my neighborhood with his own drafting table. I started painting by numbers at 5 and completed a free hand painting of Saint Thaddeus at 7. Why? Because he had a huge beard that was easy to draw and paint. At 13 I completed a detailed pencil drawing of the “Ben Hur” chariot race after viewing the movie 10 times. (It was ultimately stolen off my mother’s wall some 25 years later by an intruder.) Subsequently, I illustrated both my high-school class year book and my squadron cruise book during the Vietnam War.
Professional Career
After leaving graduate school in 1977, I worked as the head of an economic development agency in Connecticut followed by a 4-year stint as the chief economist for the Regional Planning Commission in Albany, NY. My life changed when I was offered the job as an Assistant Director and Head of Planning for the Delaware River Port Authority in Camden, NJ. After retiring in 1995, I established the RALawler Consulting Co. Inc. and sub-contracted with a variety of international consulting firms, the World and Asian Development Banks, and the US Agency for International Development. I managed major port and logistics projects throughout Africa, Asia, Central and South America as well as the Northern Pacific basin. For my 70th birthday, I took a bus ride from Kathmandu in Nepal to Lhasa in Tibet. The 8-day journey crossed the front range of the Himalayas, several plateaus, and three additional ranges higher than 20,000 feet to reach the capital. There I fulfilled a lifelong dream to visit and explore the Portola Palace, one of the great architectural wonders of the world. I filled a good size sketchbook of this experience as well.
Artistic Philosophy
The schematic and stylistic foundations of my art emanate from my experience as a traveler. I do not separate art into the usual categories of painting, photography, sculpture or crafts. Art is art. I use my camera as a mechanism for recording un-posed images of people or animals doing their thing, in their environment, as they live. I try to enunciate their ideas, interpret and expand on the motifs that define their cultures, and produce imagery that goes beyond mere decorations. I want my work to have visual meaning, to say something, to impart a message. I try to incorporate these concepts into my sketches, paintings and other mixed media creations which often include sculptural elements.
Stylistically, I am a disciple of Dali, incorporating intense realism, vivid color, and visual/story telling in figurative paintings and drawings. My creations focus on three thematic areas. The first is transcendental, the exploration of human existence and thought through allegory and illusion. I also try to capture the visual realities of life as lived here, abroad or in my imagination. The third is to incorporate the human-animal form in dynamic compositions. Over the course of my artistic career, I have completed more than 100 paintings, 1,000 drawings, and shot 150,000 plus photographs from around the world. I am also the author of , “Tales of a Traveler”, Surviving the Peccadillos of Life in Far Away Places. It includes photographs, drawings, and paintings that I shot, drew or painted during these adventures. The book is available Amazon Books dot com. I work under the motto: The world is my studio; Life is my Subject.
Exhibitions
Tales of a Traveler Exhibition, Art Center Manatee, Bradenton Fl, November 1-28/2023
Historic Spanish Point Museum, Osprey Florida, Jan-Feb 2019
New Century Gallery, N.Y., N.Y, 2013 & 2014
Agora Gallery N.Y., N.Y, Jan-April 2010,
Awards
Best in Show
for “Poly-phobic Gardens”, Florida’s Finest Exhibition, Sarasota Art Center 2016 followed by a Second place in 2017 with “And the Band Played On”
First Place for “Cooling Off”, Veteran’s Show, Sarasota, FL 2016 followed by a Best in Show for “Turbaned Beggar” 2017
Second Place
for “Children of the Mountains”, Art Center Manatee Autumn Show, 2017,
Best in Show
for “Nocturnal Fantasies” in 2018 and the “Bengali Fisherman”
2019 in the autumn art exhibitions sponsored by Art and Frame of Sarasota FL.
Best in Show “Colors of Life” Exhibition for “Australian Steeplechase” June2-25 followed by Best in Show for the “From the Mind’s Eye” exhibition for “Inquisitive”, June 29-August 16 at the Art Center Manatee, Bradenton Fl.
Second Place “Evolution Over Time” September exhibition 2024, Art Center Manatee, Bradenton Fl.
Contact information:
raymondlawler@comcast.net
Raymond Lawler
5716 Garden Lakes Fern
Bradenton, FL 34203, Tel. 610-620-4452
Thank you,
Ray Lawler
