NCWC News: Blues and Jazz Painter Eric McRay Opens Art Exhibit at North Carolina Wesleyan College October 10

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October 6, 2003

Blues and Jazz Painter Eric McRay Opens Art Exhibit

at North Carolina Wesleyan College October 10

Rocky Mount, N.C.—Raleigh blues and jazz painter Eric McRay will open an art exhibit with live music in the Mims Gallery at North Carolina Wesleyan College’s Dunn Center for the Performing Arts at 7 p.m. Friday, October 10. The show is free and open to the public and includes live music by George Higgs’ original Carolina Country Blues.

McRay is a high-profile North Carolina painter who is gaining a national reputation for American Pop and African-American subjects. With images that immortalize the significance of Southern black preachers, great musical moments of jam sessions and heart-breaking blues, to the creature comforts of a good cup of coffee, McRay pays artistic homage to both the significant and seemingly insignificant aspects of American life. From heart to paintbrush, it is McRay’s bold color with energized contemporary design that brings his themes to life. "Oh, I can hear the music!" someone said about his recent Mims Gallery pictures.

Southern Living Magazine recently featured McRay’s life story and art, telling how his faith in God changed the course of his life to his true calling—art. The artist graduated with honors from the prestigious Maryland Institute College of Art and has since pursued his career as a full-time painter, making a living selling his works. He has presented numerous solo exhibitions and has pictures in the permanent collections of SAS, Texas Gulf, and Central Carolina Bank, to name a few. He has been critically acclaimed in numerous publications and on TV and is the current president of Raleigh’s Artspace Studios.

Special guest George Higgs will provide live music in the gallery during McRay’s opening. Higgs is a nationally known bluesman from Princeville, N.C., and is known for his sweet melodic vocal styling of songs he has written, as well as for traditional blues favorites.

McRay’s exhibition will continue through October 31. The Mims Gallery is located in North Carolina Wesleyan College’s Dunn Center for the Performing Arts and is open Monday – Friday, 9 -5. For information, call 252-985-5268.

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