Ralph Baney with one of his early works July 2002

RALPH   BANEY DATE OF BIRTH: ... PLACE OF BIRTH: ..., Trinidad EDUCATION: Naparima College Naparima Teachers' Training College Brighton College of Art (Brighton University), England University of Maryland, Maryland, USA (MFA, PhD) CAREER:                                 In his early years as a sculptor, Ralph Baney created works of art from clay and heat-treated them to produce terra cotta. In 1957, he was awarded a cultural scholarship to study at Brighton College. Upon his return to Trinidad, he worked as an art officer with the Trinidad & Tobago Government Ministry of Education from 1963 to 1971, teaching at Naparima Teachers' College and other schools in the south. In 1971, he left Trinidad to study art at the University of Maryland where he obtained his post-graduate degrees. After his graduation, he settled in Columbia, Maryland, USA, with his wife Vera Baney where he taught at the Dundalk Community College in Baltimore, while continuing to create works of art in wood and stone. Over the years, Baney developed the capability to work with wood, stone, bronze, ceramic, and mixed media. His most publicly visible works in Trinidad are: (1) a 4-foot by 20-foot mural at the Scotia Centre in Port-of-Spain; (2) an 8-foot by 10-foot reinforced concrete Coat of Arms of Trinidad & Tobago at the Treasury Building in Port-of-Spain; and (3) a fiberglass fountain at the Naparima Bowl in San Fernando. He participated in the 1984 International Sculpture Symposium held in Yugoslavia and created an 8-foot sculpture from Arandjelovac marble which was permanently mounted outside the City Hall in Valjevo. Baney has had solo exhibits at several venues in the USA, including: the OAS Building in Washington, DC; Georgetown University in Washington, DC; the Sculpture House Gallery in New York; the Washington County Museum in Hagerstown, Maryland; and the Columbia Art Center in Columbia, Maryland (2003). AWARDS: 1973 - Trinidad & Tobago Public Service Medal of Merit Gold (for Fine Arts) Teaching Excellence, Maryland State Board of Community Colleges 2004 - Honarary Doctor of Letters, University of the West Indies at St. Augustine DIED: January 21, 2014, in Columbia, Maryland, USA.