Raya Bodnarchuk: A Family

An exhibition of sculpture and works on paper

On view: January 14 - February 18, 2023

Raya Bodnarchuk spent her life entirely within the world of art and knew from an early age that she wanted to be an artist. Raised in Bethesda, Maryland by two artists, creativity was an integral part of her everyday life.  Raya was a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art. In 1973, after completing her MFA, Raya became one of the first artists-in-residence at Glen Echo Park where she worked and taught for fourteen years. In 1982, Raya began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art & Design where she became a distinguished Professor and taught for 32 years. A core philosophy she taught her students, and one she lived by was that one should find time each day to do something they love. For Raya, that was creating art.

Through both her formal and informal training, Raya was exposed to a diversity of artistic mediums, which is reflected in her art. Raya is known for her figural works of animals and people. Her modernist sculptures capture the fundamental essence of each figure, a skill only possible by an artist who has honed her craft for decades. Throughout her career, Raya created wood and metal sculptures, mixed media works on paper, editions, watercolors and gouache paintings. Raya stated that she understood how “simple the intertwining of art and life [could] be,” which is evident in her subjects.

Raya believed that her students, colleagues, neighbors as well as her artwork were her chosen family. Honoring this idea, the gallery neptune & brown exhibition, Raya Bodnarchuk: A Family, will feature Raya’s art rooted in her personal experience and subjects she held dear. Raya Bodnarchuk passed away in 2021 from Mesothelioma, but her legacy lives on. An icon in the Washington D.C. art scene, her sculptures are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The American University Museum, The Washington Post, and the National Institute of Health Clinical Center.

For further information please contact Chris Neptune at chris@neptunefineart.com or 202 986- 1200.

Featured Work