CHATHAM — A retired project designer said he never quit his first love — art.
“I retired from that, but I never lost my art blood, there’s oil paint in my veins,” said Leroy McCray, 65, a Chatham resident who grew up in north Philadelphia and now lives in the 400 block of East 88th Place.
His home is full oil paints, pencils and paintings. McCray has never participated in an art competition or showcased his work in an exhibit, but after a push from some of his neighbors, he has changed his mind. He will show some of his favorite pieces at his first art exhibit in August.
The artist said that his inspiration comes from everywhere, but the things that motivate him to paint or draw the most are situations and nature. His even painted a picture of his 95-year-old neighbor, Lee Curry, who spends hours helping the block take care of their lawns.
One of the young men he mentors, Marsalis Fowlkes, 21, describes McCray’s work as “phenomenal.” He is a mechanical engineering student at Michigan State University.
“He can really draw,” he said. “He’s a great person, very knowledgeable and hilarious, also a down-to-earth person and he’s an excellent mentor.”
McCray’s close friend said his work is “amazing and powerful.”
“It touches the heart,” said Malcolm Rockhold. He pointed to a painting of a panda bear with the letters "Phila" inscripted across.
“The panda is very sad and he showed me that’s the abbreviation for Philadelphia,” Rockhold said. “He told me that young blacks are a dying species so that’s where the connection is because the panda is a dying species too.”
McCray has been in Illinois ever since he went to college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“When I graduated high school, I read the Philadelphia Inquirer and it said that the life expectancy of black youths in North Philly was 18 years old — I was turning 19. It was time to go,” he said.
He realized he enjoyed creating art when he was 9 years old, and one of his earliest memories is drawing animal characters for his classmates. Pursuing art in college was his dream, but McCray said his father got him thinking about his future.
“My father talked to me and said, ‘You need to find something to make some money or you’re going to be a starving artist.’” McCray said he had a conversation with an African-American professor who had his own industrial design firm. He soon discovered a career path where he could still create so he enrolled in the fine arts department and majored in product design.
Later on in life, McCray would eventually land a job with Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, where he would work as a product designer and have a dozen patents in his name, along with several awards that are plastered along the walls of his basement.
His mother, who is still living, went blind when he turned 4. She has never seen his work, he said, but she always supported him.
“She was the one who told me 'Do what makes you happy' so that’s what I’m doing,” McCray said. “I thank her for all of that. She said 'If you’re happy I’m happy.'”
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