By Luke Acton
Some instructors might refrain from assigning such a viscerally emotive artwork to reproduce, but Ray, a Wayland resident for almost 30 years, believes in pushing his students.
“It’s a challenging drawing, but if you do things easy, then you’ll never learn,” he told his students. “I don’t intend to make your life easier. Things will start out hard, but you’ll soon realize it’s actually not too hard.”
Ray has been teaching classes like this one at the Boston University School of Medicine for three decades. As well as teaching at BU, he was a founder of its graduate nutrition program and contributed valuable research to cancer drug therapeutics.
Yet describing him as just a “scientist” would be woefully underselling the man. He is classically trained in violin, has exhibited paintings in galleries, and has been published in top Bengali-language literary journals around the world
“When you’re a scientist, there’s really no reason why you cannot do arts,” Ray said. “Art is a natural language with a natural logic. Science is an acquired language; it’s an abstract language one needs to learn.”
Raised in Kolkata, India, a city dense with culture, in a home that flourished with creativity thanks to his mother, he was surrounded by art from birth. Ray hit a fork in the road after graduating from Presidency College and sought to pursue a career as an artist, but instead opted for a path in the sciences.
“The painters I loved were Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, and Gauguin — they were my idols,” Ray said. “But, you need to remember those people never got a square meal a day in their life.”
Science has been at the core of his working life. Since earning his Ph.D. in chemistry from Washington State University, he continued to teach at BU as a professor emeritus, but Ray has found himself busier than ever since entering retirement.
“We only have one life to live”
“I left science behind. Science is for younger people,” Ray joked. “I was really, truly a scientist, but I do many other different things… We only have one life to live.”
It’s a motto the septuagenarian practices every day as he continues to unveil new areas of artistic expression. He ventured into singing with accompaniment from his wife, Swampna, a trained vocalist.
Fortunately for aspiring creatives seeking artistic wisdom from this Wayland Renaissance man, Ray will always find time to teach.
“Some people, they literally bloom. They come with no art background whatsoever, but when they draw or paint, you say ‘Wow,’” Ray mused. “Something is triggering within them to be creative. And what else can you ask for as a teacher
