Randi Roberts This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. Raymond Lawrence Gallery

   www.raymondlawrencegallery.com - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/31/1999   Last Visited: 12/26/2001

   Ray met Randi Roberts, his fiance and the co-owner of the gallery and studio, that autumn while she was a senior, majoring in International Studies, at Emory University. Originally intending to enroll in law school post-graduation, Randi elected instead to join Ray in the business as his marketing director, public relations director, and business manager as well as artistic partner in designing and executing faux finishes for their clients. When not assisting Ray, Randi filled her "free" time by working at a law office, completing her senior year of college, and working for her parents on weekends. All profits from the studio business paid to finance the business and paid the expenses of the TULA Center space. They have never taken out a loan; utilizing, rather, the tremendous growth of the business to fully finance itself.
   
   Ray, whose favorite style of artwork is figurative painting and sculpture, had planned from the beginning of his business to own and run a gallery which would showcase new, contemporary artwork of painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. In November 1997, Ray and Randi, with the assistance of friends and a few part-time employees, began building-out and renovating a new home for the business, a much larger space in TULA (formerly the Center's storage area) which would become one of Atlanta's finest art galleries and a beautiful new location for the studio.
   
   The evolution of the Raymond Lawrence Gallery's present appearance, a uniquely European-styled series of galleries described as "industrial chic," an "airy, roomy venue," and "an oasis of tranquility," was revived from a dingy, dark, truly unremarkable space. The arched shape found in the front door and mirrored in the entryway is repeated throughout the gallery to provide a Byzantine-inspired theme to the overall atmosphere. Ray, Randi, and friends executed all of the renovations themselves over the course of six months, often working in the gallery from early morning until two or four a.m. the next morning!
   
   Aside from basic construction materials, everything in the gallery was recycled from found objects and revived or restored to create original complements to the gallery, each boasting its own personal history. The fantastical front gate was found in an antique shop on Cheshire Bridge Road. Ray bronzed and aged the door and designed the one-of-a-kind PVC pipe pulley system. The front stairway, once the old, back stairwell of TULA, was transformed into the stunning, 18-foot descent that welcomes visitors down into the gallery's warm environment. The heart pine shelving located in the front hall and the heart pine stairs at the back entrance were salvaged from a railroad depot that was being demolished in Ray's hometown in South Carolina. Ray ground the old paint off of the pine and restored it using a treatment he developed.