Ray Barry was educated at Clapham College, followed by a foundation course at Camberwell School of Art and then a course in Humanities at Goldsmiths' College. He then travelled widely as an engineer, maintaining his interest in art and exhibiting in Nairobi, Sudan and Aden. In 1968 he returned to the UK and settled in Cornwall. From 1970, and for over a decade, he was the proprietor of the ICON and Collector Galleries in Penzance and completed a BA (Hons) at the Open University. In 1997 he completed a Fine Art BA (Hons) degree at the Falmouth School of Art.
In later years, he participated in many group and solo exhibitions locally, and further afield in Plymouth and Bristol, and with the Northern Art Show at Harrogate. Ray Barry held solo exhibitions at the Bakehouse Gallery, Penzance, Eclipse Gallery, Penzance and Cornerstone Gallery, St. Ives. He also exhibited at the Royal West of England Academy, Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives and elsewhere throughout the West Country. He was an Associate Member of the Penwith Society of Artists and a member of the St. Ives Society of Artists.
