Zack Ramey

“I work in 2-D media. I particularly enjoy drawing and painting and tend toward oil paint and watercolor, ink, and graphite. I keep an active sketchbook and typically work on paper, canvas, and masonite board. I tend to work in three ways: 1. Explorative and improvisational; 2. Traveling and finding a location and a scene or objects I’d like to study from life (plein air); and 3. Starting with an idea and trying to express it visually, often by using photo references. For example, from a current project, I’m asking, “What is the responsibility we have to knowledge, and to young people?” and painting a river of books, into which a child is being lowered upside-down by her parent. This is connected to an idea from Alfred Korzybski called “time-binding,” which I consider one of the most beautiful and endlessly inspiring ideas I’ve come across.”

“I’m inspired to go on making things for lots of reasons. Becoming involved with art-making enriches one’s life, full stop. Making art in an explorative way, where we reflect on our process while in the middle of it, deepens our lives and the work. Art can help us notice and explore our own values. It can also train our perception. The adventure of the process is a big motivator for creating. Art-making is like the opposite of boredom. When we are bored, we are not involved in life, we withdraw; when we create, we involve ourselves. Lately I’m very inspired by the interplay between ideas and images, philosophical thinking and artistic creating.”

Recently, Zack worked with Teaching Artist/Metalsmith Lindsay Huff to create pair of a mixed media murals with upper elementary and middle school youth attending after-school programming at LeMoyne Community Center in Washington, PA. During the fall and winter of 2024-2025, the pair used source imagery featuring LCC’s multifaceted community programs. Students began with pencil sketches which were incorporated into vibrant Art Nouveau and garden-inspired mural designs. Students worked with acrylic paint and added accents with hammered aluminum can pieces.