Ray Dudley

Ray Dudley has been involved in the many aspects of woodworking since 1971. While working as a finish carpenter and contractor, he began making furniture and boxes using a variety of designs and materials, incorporating carving into this work which eventually led to his interest in wood sculpture. After meeting Northwest Coastal carver Loren White in 1991, Dudley began an apprenticeship with him in tool making and carving in the various styles of Northwest Coastal art. As a result, Dudley has used traditional handmade tools to create numerous masks, ladles, and bowls, rattles, ivory and bronze castings with the continued support of White and Nuu-chah-nulth carver, Hyacinth Joe David. It is the power of masks and their universal appeal to communicate expression of the natural and spiritual worlds and our human connection to them that has captured his interest and focus.

Dudley is a member of the Founding Artist Circle of the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Coast Art at the University of Washington. His work can be found in private collections throughout the US, Canada, and Ireland, and is displayed in galleries in Seattle, Port Townsend, and Bainbridge Island, Washington and in Skagway, Alaska.

He resides in Port Orchard, Washington.