Ralph Jean-Baptiste

Ralph Jean-Baptiste was born in Evanston, IL and went to school in Chicago. After graduating, he worked in a glass-artist shop where he learned the craft of glass-making. He moved to Cortland in 1989 and studied artistic welding with professor and metal sculptor Allen Mooney. Ralph graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from SUNY Cortland. 

In 1996, he went to northern France to study with metal forger Michelle Macon in the city Marchelle. Thereafter he came back to Cortland for two years, where he was the co-owner of The Seventh Gallery on Main Street. In 1999, he went back to Chicago and returned to the Cortland area in 2001. He has been living on and off in New Orleans showing and selling his artwork. 

After a hiatus, Ralph came back into the art scene, and for the past two years he has been creating sculptures at his workshop in Cortland. His inspirations have been Julio Gonzalez from Spain, David Smith an original from Indiana and the English sculptor henry Moore and the Romanian sculptor Brancuzzi, and of course the great Mark Di Suvero.

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