Ray Hassard

Ray Hassard was born and raised in the New York area. Growing up, he attended Saturday classes at the Museum of Modern Art, and took community education art classes at local schools and art organizations. He studied at Pratt Institute, and, more importantly, spent hours and hours at New York's wonderful museums and galleries. Ray moved to Buffalo NY in 1977, where he was awarded several commissions, including one for a 45 foot long wall piece in the subway system the city was building. In 1985, he and his husband came to Cincinnati and became co-owners and publishers of  American Record Guide, a classical music CD review magazine.

Ray has been a prominent painter on the Plein Air circuit for the last 10 years, traveling around the country with destinations including Hawaii, Texas, Arkansas, Maryland, Virginia, New York and more. He has won top awards in Indiana, Maryland and Texas for his plein air pastels. He has also been invited to judge at many events, including Cape Ann Plein Air, 2021 IAPS Chicago Exhibition and Kekionga Plein Air, Ft Wayne Indiana.

Ray has been involved with the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati in their program Artists Reaching Classrooms for over 5 years. He also leads the monthly Signature Member critique sessions at the Cincinnati Art Club.

Besides art, Ray's major interests include contra dancing, roller coasters, and travel. He has visited over 75 countries, with India being his favorite. Three painting trips there with friend and fellow artist Debra Joyce Dawson led to a joint show of their paintings of India and Bhutan at the Richmond Art Museum in January 2010. In that same year Ray painted in Spain, France and Croatia. He returned  to Cuba to paint in January 2020.