Born in Nevada, Ray was influenced at an early age by the works of Earl Biss, Fritz Scholder, and Ed Mell. Ray spent his youth recreating vibrant landscapes and subjects native to the high desert region where he spent his childhood. Ray was the recipient of numerous school, gallery, and festival awards before embarking on his formal art education, earning a BFA in design from Watkins College of Art and Design in Nashville, Tennessee. He has developed an acute attention to space, composition, and abstract form associated with many of his influences, subsequently refining his own visual and conceptual vocabulary. The evolution of his bold, vibrant work continues to emerge through his passion, understanding, and depiction to the indigenous southwestern people and wildlife in their dramatic environment.