Artist's Profile
My paintings blend realism and the surreal in a unique interpretation of our hills and valleys. My deep personal love of the natural beauty of Sonoma county and the northern California coast has inspired my work for five decades.
~ Ray Jacobsen
Creating art is simply being... having so much love for something, whether it's the land, the human form or the essence of a flower, that all that can be done is to create. It is not an act of will or wanting to; one simply must.
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
One of the founding members of the Arts Guild of Sonoma in 1977, Ray was an active and supportive member for 30 years. He was a perennial contributor of his time and artwork to the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art as an Advisory Council member, a Wet Paint donor, and an exhibitor in the Biennial and Sonoma Collects exhibitons. He also taught private classes in watercolor and oil painting.
Ray's work is in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States and abroad. Some of his more notable exhibitions have been in the Crocker Museum, Sacramento, The University of New Mexico, Richmond Art Center, Boise State University, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, California Museum of Visual Arts, and the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. He received the Bronze California Discovery Award in 1994 and was voted Sonoma City Artist Treasure in 1997. Ray was awarded a grant from the Pollock Krasner Foundation in 2003.
Grants and Awards
- Artist in Residence, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, CA 1982
- Calif. Discovery Award, 1994; Sonoma City Artist Treasure, 1998
- Mature Artist Grant, The Pollock Krasner Foundation, 2003
Education - Sonoma Valley High School, 1956
- Santa Rosa Junior College, 1970
- Studied art in England, France and Italy, 1971
