Ray Kobald's work is often featured in newspapers and magazines. To learn more about this nationally known sculptor and keep up with his latest events, commissions and honors read more below.

Mythical Journey on One Leg
By Michael Scott-Blair
Wildlife Art magazine

To this day?more than 60 years later?Ray Kobald insists that he did not draw the naughty pictures on the boy's bathroom wall while in the 5th grade at school. "Miss Richardson and Mr. Anderson, the school principle and custodian, both believed me when I said I was not guilty, but they said they thought the pictures were so well drawn that they must have been done by me. I guess it was a compliment in one way?one of my earliest accolades as an artist. But the praise way undeserved because I didn't draw those pictures," he says, adding with a laugh, "Of course you can't print any of this.

But even earlier than that?in the second grade?Kobald won a state art contest that may have played a major role in his life, even though he does not recall what the contest was or what he drew for his winning entry. "But it was probably an indian," he says. Why? "I have always loved , respected and admired the indians and their culture. Since I was a little, little boy I have always been the indian, never the cowboy. If there was a parade or masquerade, I was the indian."

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"Mystery man"
By Benji Hughes
SPECIAL TO THE BEACON NEWS
The Sun

For St. Charles sculptor, the art just happens

ST. CHARLES — Ray Kobald knows all the questions. He just never answers them.

"We're nothing more than storytellers," the St. Charles artist says. For more than 30 years, he has shaped bronze — or clay, or wood, or fabric — into works of fantasy and mystery. His figures often wear of carry masks. They gaze into the distance or retreat into themselves. They're animals or humans or, frequently, both at the same time. They belong to tribal societies both real and fictional. They carry icons of both life and death.

They offer only partial explanations. "People always want stories," Kobald says. "Oftentimes, you don't have the story. You finish the piece and say, 'oh, boy, what's , next?' And up comes the next one." The truth is, he doesn't need to know his inspiration's source. The sculptures are enough. "Sometimes I'll get up in the middle of the night and have an idea and do a sketch," he says. "It just comes."

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