Painter’s medical background shows in her work

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As an artist, painter Wray Clifford is best known for her landscapes, which she describes as leaning “toward the impressionistic side of realism.”

Her background, though, is in something decidedly different: medical illustration, which she studied as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University in the late 1990s.

“Medical illustration is kind of a combination of science and art,” says Clifford. “We took all of our first-year classes with the first-year med students. I took anatomy, I took pathology, all of these classes that any first-year med student was taking. It’s not for the faint of heart; you have to have a very strong science background to study this field.”

Though Clifford no longer practices medical illustration, she never lost the eye for detail that she developed as an undergraduate.

“I think my work tends to be a little more detailed just because of my training in illustration. Medical illustration is very detailed and very technical,” says Clifford. “I think sometimes I just see things differently from other people.”

 Clifford spent the years after she graduated from OSU working in advertising, and in her family business, selling ceramic tile and natural stone, but she began to miss the art world.

“That was really kind of the turning point for me,” says Clifford. “When I was like, ‘Gosh, I haven’t really done any of my own art, or anything really artistic.”

That was when Clifford stumbled upon an opportunity to teach at Purple Dog Art Studio, a New Albany business that offers art classes for children. Clifford’s own children were taking classes there, so she reached out to the owner to see if there were any jobs available.

“She said, ‘I need an instructor; would you be interested in teaching?’ I literally started teaching right away there,” says Clifford. “Within three months, she told me she was going to be selling her business, and would I be interested in buying it? I bought the business from her and, for the next few years, ran Purple Dog.”

Running Purple Dog was what pulled Clifford back to art after her many years away.

“The second I started working with those kids, and just started painting and drawing again, I was just like ‘Oh my God, this is what I’ve been missing,’” says Clifford. “I just felt like myself again.”

Most of Clifford’s paintings depict landscapes, which she attributes to her family’s love of the outdoors.

“We travel a lot as a family, so I like to take inspiration from all the different places that we go,” she says. “We like to hike, we like to dive, we love the ocean. We’re a very outdoorsy family, so I think that’s why a lot of my work deals with landscapes.”

Though Clifford loves creating landscapes, her favorite part of painting comes before she even puts the paint on the canvas.

“I love to mix colors,” says Clifford. “There’s something about just being able to take some basic colors and just mix and create. It’s almost meditative. I take a lot of time preparing a palette before I start painting. I think it helps give a cohesiveness to my artwork.”

Now that Clifford is painting professionally, she has become involved with the Griffin Gallery at Creekside.

“What the owner really wanted to do was to give something back to the community,” says Clifford. “He wanted to create a space where people could come and enjoy local artists, artists people haven’t seen before. It’s a beautiful space. It’s a great place to have an opening.”

Clifford got involved with the gallery just over a year ago.

“I actually know the owner of the gallery through other businesses that I’ve worked in the past,” she says. “I just went to him and talked to him about what he was trying to do with the gallery. I said, ‘Oh, I happen to be an artist,’ and he said, ‘Really? Let’s do a show.’”

Clifford’s art was on display at the Griffin Gallery at Creekside in June and July.

Clifford and her children will soon relocate to Boston to be with her husband, Dan, who has accepted a job there. But she intends to come back periodically and continue working at her studio on Summit Street.

“I think Columbus has an amazing art scene. It’s just a really welcoming community,” says Clifford. “I don’t think Columbus has seen the last of me.”      

Griffin Gallery at Creekside

Griffin Gallery at Creekside, where Wray Clifford’s work was recently displayed, is an up-and-coming gallery in central Ohio.

The nonprofit Gahanna gallery was founded in 2014 by Lew and Janet Griffin, owners of the Lew Griffin Insurance Group. It focuses on work that explores Ohio’s rich history, and though it displays the work of artists from all over the country, the gallery is particularly committed to giving Ohio artists a place to display their art, and to supporting the local art community.

Griffin Gallery is located at 77 Mill St. in downtown Gahanna.

Athnie McMillan-Comeaux is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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