About Grit & Grace: Stories from the Southern Soul
Craven Arts Council & Gallery is proud to present our Main Gallery exhibition for July, Grit & Grace: Stories from the Southern Soul created by mixed media artist Eric McRay. This exhibition uses collage on board, paper, and canvas to explore visual storytelling inspired by African American, Biblical, art history, and pop culture. Craven Arts will host a reception at the Bank of the Arts during Artwalk on July 11th from 5 – 8 pm. This exhibition will be on display throughout the month of July, with the exception of July 4th, where Bank of the Arts will be closed for the holiday.
Grit & Grace: Stories from the Southern Soul features a collection of collages depicting African American life with pop culture and contemporary influences. Eric McRay exhibits powerful portraits of survival, memory and home. These works honor the strength of overlooked communities while challenging simplified images of Southern Black identity. With grit and grace, this exhibition tells a story of endurance, beauty, and cultural pride—one fragment at a time.
Grit & Grace: Stories from the Southern Soul features a collection of collages depicting African American life with pop culture and contemporary influences. Eric McRay exhibits powerful portraits of survival, memory and home. These works honor the strength of overlooked communities while challenging simplified images of Southern Black identity. With grit and grace, this exhibition tells a story of endurance, beauty, and cultural pride—one fragment at a time.
About Eric McRay
Eric McRay is a Raleigh based artist born and raised in Washington D.C., using collage to address the human figures affected by time in everyday narratives, at their core inspired by McRay’s familial relationships. His artwork will often feature reused materials from his previous works and collage emporweres McRay to push the boundaries tat allow the real world to infiltrate a painting. McRay says “collage, one of the major innovations of modern art, is an artist inserting pieces of the real world into a constructed one." McRay received a BFA degree at the Maryland Insititue, College of Art, and since moving to North Carolina has been exhibiting since 1987. The Raleigh News & Observer named him one of the “Artist to Watch" and has had featured articles in Our State Magazine, Southern Living Magazine and more.
Some of his art collectors include businesses such as; SAS Institute, American Tobacco Campus, North Carolina Central University Art Museum, Duke University Medical Center, Duke Health Raleigh Hospital, NC State University, UNC - Chapel Hill and Western Wake Hospital, and more.
Some of his art collectors include businesses such as; SAS Institute, American Tobacco Campus, North Carolina Central University Art Museum, Duke University Medical Center, Duke Health Raleigh Hospital, NC State University, UNC - Chapel Hill and Western Wake Hospital, and more.
