Ray Baptiste
Native Artist
Ray Baptiste began sketching in the back of books as a child, and sold his first painting to a neighbour at age 15.
Art remained a hobby for the young artist until a young woman took the 20-something Baptiste to meet her father, artist Eddy Cobiness.
Cobiness, who died in 1996, was one of the first Woodland artists and a member of the Indian Group of Seven. The older artist saw some of Baptiste’s sketches and encouraged him to work at his art and began a long and influential mentorship.
“He was basically like a father figure to me,” says Baptiste. Adopted as a baby by German and Ukrainian parents, Baptiste knew very little about his First Nationsl heritage. Cobiness was a link to his roots.
Ray Baptiste began experimenting with the Woodlands style, using swooping lines and dots to depict his subjects.
“There’s enough there to get the idea of the animal, while still leaving a certain amount up to the imagination,’ he says.
Much of the inspiration for his work comes from the three seasons he spent in the Yukon as a hunting guide. Others come from vacations he has taken or walks he took with Cobiness around the Buffalo Point reserve. Aside from encouraging his talent, Cobiness also taught Baptiste the ropes of the business. From there it was a long road of cold-calling corporate clients, selling paintings at mall shows, dabbling in graphic design, and doing anything possible to make a living through art. This included joining the Cedar Gathering collective along with artists like Sweetpea and Carl Fontaine.
While it was a learning experience, Baptiste says the high pace eventually took its toll on both his work and his personal life. Today he does much of his work at home, and has said goodbye to the days of constant travel and tight deadlines. “I’m working in a very relaxed way now,” he says.
He has also found comfort through his relationship with Gary Scherbain of Winnipeg’s Wah-sa Gallery. “Gary took a lot of pressure off,” says Baptiste. Now his work is almost entirely sold and commissioned through the gallery, which specializes in original Woodlands art.
