Ray Kass

Nationally renowned Virginia-based artist and professor emeritus Ray Kass celebrated with exhibitions across Virginia Tech campus

Recognized nationally and internationally for his evocative abstract landscapes and unique approach to materials and techniques, prominent Virginia-based artist Ray Kass is being celebrated with a university-wide series of exhibitions of work from his exemplary career.

The art featured in the exhibitions range from examples of his early foundational works, silk collages, and signature polyptych, multipanel works, to his most recent still life paintings. Together, these works represent highlights from what has been a prolific, ever-evolving, and accomplished career.    

Kass, professor emeritus of art in Virginia Tech’s School of Visual Arts in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies with an extensive record of national and international exhibitions, will be featured in three exhibitions on the Virginia Tech campus—at the Moss Arts Center, Armory Gallery, and Perspective Gallery—beginning in January.

In addition to his thriving studio practice, Kass is the founder and director of the Mountain Lake Workshop, a series of collaborative, community-based art projects drawing on the customs and resources of the Appalachian region. Over the years the program has produced collaborative works between guest artists and members of the local community surrounding Mountain Lake in Giles County. The Mountain Lake Workshop has drawn art-world luminaries to the area, including Clement Greenberg, Donald B. Kuspit, and John Cage, and has influenced generations of artists in Virginia and the Southeast.

Kass’ work will be featured in the following exhibitions:

Silk and Water
Perspective Gallery, Squires Student Center
January 16–March 3

This exhibition at Perspective Gallery features Kass’ painted collages and ocean wave series of watercolors. The silk collages synthesize imagery of water and earth in bold compositions, which play through the veil of silk. The mixed media pieces of ocean waves capture the energy of water in the moment. Silk and Water is part of Perspective Gallery’s semester-long focus on the importance of water as an irreplaceable resource. 

The Perspective Gallery will hold a special reception to celebrate the exhibition on Friday, January 19, from 5–7pm.

Ray Kass
Moss Arts Center
190 Alumni Mall
January 18–March 31

The Moss Arts Center’s exhibition highlights exemplary work from Kass’ prolific career, ranging from his large-scale, multipanel Polyptych (1961–2003) paintings to his most recent “Still Lifes” (2015–18), created with stencils in an inventive layering of water media, oil emulsion, and dry pigment on rag paper. Among the key works in the exhibition is the monumental painting Broad Channel: Vorticella Polyptych (1991) from the permanent collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, which will be seen in Virginia for the first time in more than 20 years.

The exhibition will open with a special reception on Thursday, Jan. 18 from 5–7pm in the Moss Arts Center.

Primary Elements: Foundational Works
Armory Gallery
January 18–February 16

The Armory Gallery’s exhibition presents key transitional works from Kass spanning five decades. There are no simple images in the vast archives of the artist’s work, but there are principle constituents that contribute to its complexity. These primitives—the first stages of what become series—are the focus of this exhibition. Technique, materials, mediums, and color become a sophisticated whole, and this path, traveled through landscapes, has informed Kass from the start.

The Armory Gallery will hold a special reception to celebrate the exhibition on Friday, January 19 from 6–8pm.

These exhibitions and all related events are free and open to the public.

Kass’ work has been featured in 40 one-person exhibitions and more than 50 group exhibitions and is included in numerous public institution and private collections. He is represented by Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, and Garvey/Simon in New York City.

Press inquiries: Susan Bland, subland [​at​] vt.edu