Skye Ray is an American visual artist based in New Orleans, LA. Born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area, Skye realized her passion for art in Middle School where she specialized in ceramics and pottery. In 2017, she took her passion to Loyola University New Orleans studying studio art as her minor. As a senior at Loyola, she has expanded her portfolio including painting, sculptures, and printmaking pieces. Her work falls along the subjects of black culture and women.
“Take me back, 5’4”
Textile project
“Damaged”
Human hair, styrofoam and iron
Found object project
“Grams house”
mixed media
Shelter as an identity project
When I think of a place that I call home, I think of my grandmother's house and smells, lots of smells. Grandma’s house is where everything is...the restaurant, hair salon, bakery, church, art gallery, you name it.Therefore, with my piece I will use several items to represent my grandma’s house. Those items are dried out flowers, a candle, holy oil, a comb, and an oven mit.
The dried out flowers represent how my grandma always has flowers in the house. Why? Because she believes that they make any place look beautiful, and I completely agree. ‘Till this day we still plant flowers outside during the summer.
A candle represents smell, grandma’s house always smells good...probably because she loves cleaning. She used to be a nurse so being clean is important.
Holy oil represents faith. Our family is very big on faith, at first we were all Chrisitan(we have our own pew at our church...family has been going there since my mom was 4). However, about 18 years ago my aunt converted to Islam. Now we observe both religions.
A comb represents how we also got our hair done at grandma's house. Her mother was a hairdresser, and passed down her skills to my mom. So I barely went to salons growing up, just grandma’s kitchen.
Finally, an oven mitt represents cooking. Grandma is the BEST cook in the world. She knows how to make almost everything, and has so many ingredients and cookbooks, that you can make almost anything you are craving. I wish I could take her kitchen everywhere with me.