Starry Night Over Bethlehem
Inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night, this painting was created specifically as a reference for YMCA staff to copy during a group Christmas project.
After seeing it online, a publishing company in Australia asked to use the image in a high school text book, focusing on intersectionality and Van Gogh’s influence on music, art, poetry, and theater.
Madonna de la Croisette 2004
Painted from a photo taken at the beach in Cannes, mother and child are intersected by a cross. The pieced mirror reflects the brokenness in all of us, as we hold on tight to the people who ground us.
Notre Dame des Chansons
On a trip to France, Elizabeth Gray sings to nephew Miles Bavuso. Influenced by the religious paintings at the Louvre. 2004
Mother and Child: Prescient
painted on repurposed canvas.
Angel of Light
Painted as a reference for a YMCA staff Christmas project. 2021
Man, Whole Covered 2004
Painted as part of my senior project, using a photo of Jason Perry as reference. Jesus rests on the ground, the cross just a suggestion of what’s to come. The title, a play on words, tells us that He covers all of us, regardless of faith or circumstance.
Holy Family 2022
Created specifically as a reference for a staff painting.
Jesus template
Easter 2024, the YMCA started The Jesus Project, inviting any and everyone to create their own version of Jesus using a pre-printed outline. The results were astounding, and can be viewed under The Jesus Project section of the A&H Gallery at the YMCA website.
Stigmata
Using a repurposed canvas and an image of our son as he lay in a hospital bed, Stigma revealed itself.
Head of Christ.
Cleaning out the basement, I found a print of Richard Hook’s Head of Christ which had hung in our house since the early 1970s. Water damaged and covered with mold, it got a new life as I painted my own version over the existing image. Hook-Gray collaboration. 2024
Spiritual Heeling
In the early 2000s, my interests included photographing feet for use in a project called Foot for Thought. Titles reflect a play on words: feat/feet, heal/heel, soul/sole, and various uses of toe. This image uses the feet of my church lady friends, who were almost always up for whatever crazy new concept I pursued.
Walking with God, No Mean Feet, Gray
Once again, the church ladies volunteered to pose for this painting.
Foot for Thought, Where Will Your Sol Spend Eternity?
Spirit Bird, Gray
Cross
Using a repurposed acrylic pour canvas, this became part of this body of work.
Ressurection
Acrylic pour with cross.
Pieta
Repurposed canvas