(Image: "Over Midday Pond" by Alan Bray, 2009)

Alan Bray paints in casein, a milk-based tempera that has virtually no drying time. His works are technically complex, consisting of thousands of tiny brush strokes, built up in layers, out of which the images – the vision – advance from the foundation of a mirror-smooth, absolute void of white ground. It is a method of painting that follows directly from his method of exploring his subjects. Bray participates generously in promoting the arts and community enrichment in the spare, small-town culture of a rural state. His work as an artist is to paint a record of the quiet panorama of life unfolding on the margins of the central Maine farmland and in the woods beyond the towns. A close, careful, and astute observer, he frequently finds the subjects of his paintings in events and processes that elude an eye less keen, or a mind more intent on discovering nature’s grandeur.

When did you first realize that you were going to be an artist and when did you first start making art?
After I was asked to leave business college I decided to go to art school which is what I wanted to do in the first place.
As a young boy I built rafts, tree houses, lean-tos, go carts and copied pictures out of magazines. When I was 13 and visiting my mother in Boston, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts where I saw real paintings for the first time. I was fascinated with the Monet haystacks, and when I got home I tried to emulate the style by blurring the edges on my “Paint by Numbers” set that an aunt had given me.

Who or what inspires you?
The beauty andcomplexity of natural phenomena and the way that the man-made world meets that world.

Is (was) anyone else in your family in the arts?
My daughter Abbey is a wonderful writer, but she makes her living as a landscaper. My son Eric was a theater major and now works in retail.

Are you self-trained or did you go to art school?
I went to several art schools—the School of Practical Art in Boston (we called it the “School of Practically Art”, it is now the Art Institute Of Boston); the University of Southern Maine (BS Art Education); and Villa Schifanoia Graduate School Of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy (MA Painting).

(Image: "PW Knight and Sons" by Alan Bray, 1978)

Is the process of creating your art long or short?
It takes me about a month to make a painting. It is a time consuming process that involves laying down many thin layers of paint that eventually produces enough mass and density to bring out the luminosity that is indicative of the tempera medium.

Tell us something about your work.
My primary interest in the landscape is phenomenological. The way natural processes and forms interact and play off of each other to create ever more complex forms and processes. It is the phenomena itself that is my starting point and not the scenery.

Do you have a subject matter that defines you as an artist?
Nature and the ways in which humans engage with the natural world.

What makes you stay with a particular subject matter? Why are you drawn to it?
I often times work with an idea that I’ve been thinking about or playing with for a year or more. In order to spend a month or more with the painting, I have to be convinced that it will stay interesting.

Familiarity and intimacy are important considerations for me because they deepen my understanding of what the painting wants to be about. It always takes awhile before I fully understand what is drawing me to a particular image. I went to Newfoundland to see the northern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains and I made a bunch of sketches and watercolors, but no paintings came from it. I realized that without the intimacy that is engendered by familiarity with a place, its people, and its culture, there was an estrangement that I could not get past.

(Image: "Cedar Swamp" by Alan Bray, 1991)

How do you stay motivated?
I love the way that the painting process mimics natural processes in the way that a slow accretion of strokes and dabs becomes a form. I am appreciative of the freedom to spend my time contemplating the natural world and trying to make sense of it in my particular way.

What have you been working on lately? Are you experimenting with anything new?
I’ve been producing my own digital prints as a way of making work that is more affordable.

Has your medium changed from when you first started out?
I started working with casein tempera when I was in graduate school in Italy in 1971, and with very few exceptions, I have been working with it ever since

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?
Have a Plan B and be sure that you are able to tolerate spending a lot of time alone. This is something that not a lot of young artists think about. And of course don’t expect to make any money for awhile.

What kind of comment do you despise the most when overheard at one of your openings?
“Do you believe these prices?”

What kind of comment pleases you the most when overheard at one of your openings?
“Look at all those red dots!”

(Image: "Chickadee Nest Built in a Bluebird Box" by Alan Bray, 2000)

How have you handled the business side of being an artist?
Poorly. Learning how to budget through the good times and bad is something that my wife has become very good at and I am very appreciative of her support over the years. Paying attention to the details in regards to your patrons, contacts and clients is very important and I was a slow learner in that regard.

Do you have any outside interests other than art?
I’m very much involved in my community. I belong to a number of organizations and boards that are involved in community building and support. I believe that artists should be active members in their communities as opposed to the romantic fantasy idea of “the alienated genius”.

Are you disciplined about your creative process (in other words, do you treat the process like a job, where you keep particular hours in the studio), or are you more spontaneous?
I’m very disciplined about it. I work in my studio every day like a job.

How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?
It would be greatly diminished and a lot less interesting.

(Image: "Flanders Hill" by Alan Bray, 2005)

What is the best part of being a full time, working artist?
Freedom of thought. Freedom to pursue what interests you when it interests you. Freedom to make your own schedule. The creative joy of making something from nothing. The satisfaction of sharing your own sense of wonder with others.

What's the worst part of being a full time, working artist?
Financial insecurity.

Do you have any upcoming shows?
I just had a solo show from July through August at the Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland, Maine. They are my primary dealers and are wonderful to work with. This month, I have a piece in a group exhibit called called “Above and Below”at Greenhut Galleries along with other visual artists from around the state of Maine. I am also in a show at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center in Dunedin, Florida called “The Meditative Landscape” which will run January 15 through February 28, 2010. In addition, I will be included in a show at the Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico scheduled for Spring 2010.

Where can we find your work?
On a regular basis at the Calbeck Gallery in Rockland, Maine or on my website, www.alanbray.com.

- Brenda Bonneville, editor

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great interview m j bronstein 2010-01-02 09:21:29 Just a note to tell you (and Mr. Bray) how much I enjoyed reading this interview. I've always been drawn to Alan Bray's art - it's meditative, transporting, personal, art that is alive - and am glad to know more about the artist. THis is a great feature on ME Art Scene website!

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