Obituary: Ray Duncan (1940 to 2025)

ACNI has learned with deep regret that the artist Ray Duncan has passed away. We wish to extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends and all who will feel his loss within the arts community in Belfast and beyond.

Ray was a prolific painter, educator and founding member of artist studios across the city. Since the 1960s, abstract painting was a common thread in his work using an evolutionary process with the final results not always foreseen. He was interested in the viewer entering the world of the painting where something of a transcendental journey might take place. The paintings created magic for Ray and he hoped they would do the same for audiences and that the paintings would have their own life.

Over the years and beyond his own practice, Ray helped to shape Belfast’s arts community in difficult times. He was a qualified arts teacher; he attended classes at Belfast Art College under John Luke and Terry Flanagan and taught art at schools and colleges across the city - his dedication to teaching reflected his belief in the transformative power of creativity.

He was part of the May Street studio group in the 1960’s and organised “House Shows” in artists’ homes when venues were scarce. He contributed to the Ulster Arts Club from the 1970s, organising exhibitions when artists such as Colin Middleton Raymond Piper and Basil Blackshaw were frequenting it. He helped develop the Elmwood Gallery at the Club, which further expanded opportunities for artists to exhibit their work.

In fact, right up to 1996 Ray was collaborating and developing space for other artists. He was one of the founders of Creative Exchange Studios, now based in the Portview Trade Centre, Belfast. In recent years he showed regularly at The Engine Room Gallery and through Gallery 545.

Ray Duncan leaves us with a wonderful legacy; his paintings, his students, and the institutions he helped build, will continue to feel his influence for years to come.