Artist Sandra Ray to be featured at Apple Bank in Smithtown
Smithtown Township Arts Council has announced that the works of Smithtown artist Sandra Ray will be on view July 4 to August 24 at Apple Bank of Smithtown, 91 Route 111, Smithtown. The exhibition, part of the Arts Council’s Outreach GalleryProgram, may be viewed during regular banking hours Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sandra Ray was born Alessandra Bocchi in Brooklyn, NY, July 14, 1924. She is 99 years old and is a smart, outgoing, and humorous woman who loves animals and good conversation. Her parents, Rose Oddo and Gino Bocchi were Italian immigrants. She had one sister, Yolanda. She met and married her husband, Charles Ray after WWII, and lived in Brooklyn, Ohio, Rochester, and Kings Park before moving to Smithtown in 1961. She has three daughters, Linda (now deceased), Pamela, and Amy, and four grandchildren. She attended both Hunter College and Hofstra University where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education. Sandra still lives at her home in Smithtown to this day and worked as a teacher for the Smithtown Central School District, retiring in 1986. Having lived and worked in Smithtown for so many years, everyone seems to know her, and she sees former students all the time who remind her of how much they loved having her as a teacher.
Her passion for art and painting started as a young adult. While living in Brooklyn, Sandra worked for Whelan’s in the photo restoration and retouching department. She loved the feeling of the oils and started to purchase her own art supplies and began her painting in her small backyard. She also worked for a photographer when she and Charles lived in Rochester, New York. In the studio, Sandra worked in the Heavy Brush department retouching portraits and painting photographs. She used thick oils to tint faces. If you ask her about oils as a medium, she will tell you that oils fascinate her because oils “Project life in the way that they flow. They have a velvet flow.” She has always enjoyed the arts and attended several galleries throughout the years, joining painting groups and going on tours. One of her art teachers recommended that she try other mediums, so she started to work with pastels, acrylics, and watercolors.
Sandra’s daughter Pam says, “My mother is very funny, and she is sharp as a tack!” Smithtown Arts Council is pleased to feature the work of this incredibly special local lady and artist at Apple Bank!
“STAC is grateful to Apple Bank for its continued support of culture in our communities. We are so happy to feature the talents of Long Island artists in this space!,” read the press release.
