GEORGE RAY McCORMICK, SR., Milwaukee, WI

"Adam and Eve Series: Cupid Speaks", 30"H x 11"W, painted & carved wood, found objects, welded metal, wood burning

"My Work is a cleansing. What I am now creating helps me to overcome the limitations of my past choices and gives me a spiritual connection to God. I am evolving in a new direction as a flame evolves from a spark. God instructed me to study welding. Woodcarvings and welded metal represent my journey into the bible. However, both secular and religious subject matter have always been important influences in my work. For example I might weave together such diverse ideas as Voodoo, Christianity and certain aspects of street life into the same piece. I had no idea welding sculpture would encompass much of my present artwork. I am now putting together wood and metal to tell my story."

BIO

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, George Ray McCormick, Sr. has lived in Milwaukee since 1950. A self-taught artist, he began woodcarving in 1993 and began an apprenticeship at Vanguard Sculpture Services (Vanguard) in 2002, while working with artist, Evelyn Patricia Terry, on her public art project, Kindred Ties. At Vanguard, he learned metal fabrication and casting. Then in his own studio, fabricated twelve sculptures for Giving Gifts – a second public art project awarded Terry and installed at General Mitchell International Airport. McCormick was selected to participate in the Smithsonian Institution’s 1998 ten-day national folk art festival in Washington, D.C.; restaged as Madison, Wisconsin's Sesquicentennial Folklife Festival and then restaged in Chiba, Japan in 1999. His awards include first place in the 1995 Holiday of Black Doll Festival in Columbus, Ohio; second place at the Delafield Carving Exhibition, Delafield, Wisconsin and a patron award at Kentuck Folk Art Festival, Northport, Alabama. His commissioned works include a ceramic bird, Kingfisher, for the White House in 2004 and Adinkra Symbols for the Marquette Interchange Project on the Walnut Street Bridge in 2006.