Randy Hayes

In 1968 Randy Hayes earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Memphis Academy of Art (now Memphis College of Art). He worked as a VISTA Volunteer in Seattle in 1969 and then settled in Boston, where he worked as a scene painter and designer for public television. Hayes returned to Seattle in 1976 and opened a rare book store and gallery Glover/Hayes (later Donnally/Hayes) next to the Pioneer Square Hotel. In 1979, he photographed boxers, which led to a series of paintings and pastel drawings of athletes. He then expanded this work to include everyday people who lived slightly outside the mainstream. In 1990, after working in a variety of media, he began to paint directly onto grids of photographs, exploring the relationship between painting and photography. Hayes has had many solo exhibitions at museums including Boise Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Cheekwood Museum in Nashville and Bellevue Arts Museum and his work can be found in numerous public and corporate collections. In 1982 he received the Betty Bowen Award and in 2003 and 2004 a Flintridge Foundation Award .