Ray Pelley received his degree in Fine Arts from Illinois State University. After Graduation he worked in commercial art on a part time basis. He has lived in Illinois, Tennessee and Massachusetts before settling in Washington State.
Pelley has been living and working as an artist in the Pacific Northwest since 1979. In 1980 he began selling his original serigraphs on the craft tables at the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle. It was there that he found a receptive audience for his work and subsequently began showing his works in juried shows and a variety of galleries in Washington State.
While much of Pelley's earlier work revolved around the surreal beauty of the Pacific Northwest, he has now turned to photo realism and uses pop images and icons as his subject matter.