Ray Materson was terrified when he was given a 15-year prison sentence for robbery. How would he live through so many years in that kind of environment? An unlikely answer came to him from his prayers: palm-sized embroideries stitched by hand from the unraveled threads of ordinary socks. Now long a free man, the Kalamazoo resident’s art has been exhibited nationwide—and currently on exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
“I had a very serious addiction to heroine and cocaine,” Materson says. “In order to support my habit, I shoplifted a toy gun and proceeded to pull off a few robberies with it, which netted me about a total of $300, which was barely enough for a couple of days of fixes. I wasn’t a very good robber. I didn’t have a mask or do much to hide who I was. I was caught rather quickly by the authorities.”
Living in Connecticut at that time, Materson was sentenced to 15 years, but his sentence was reduced to seven years on good behavior. Regardless, he was overwhelmed by the prison experience.
“I was raised middle class, and prison is a lot different than life in middle class society,” he says. “I literally got down on my knees and prayed for some kind of miracle to get me out.”
The answer to his prayer was not quite what he had initially hoped. It was, in fact, better than that. The answer led to what would become a lifelong career in the arts. Beginning with an unraveled sock from which he made a sports symbol for himself to wear on a cap, Materson’s work caught the attention of other inmates. Before he knew it, others were asking him to make various designs for them, too, in exchange for cigarettes or coffee. Donations of socks came to him from inmates, corrections officers, even others outside of the prison. Creating his unique art offered him a means of “escape” from his prison life.
Eventually, Materson’s sister entered one of his embroidered pieces to a contest in Michigan. He not only won the contest but also the attention of a New York gallery representative. One gallery after another began showing his pieces, all made from socks. His work is now in countless museums, galleries, and private collections and is now represented by the Andrew Edlin Gallery. An autobiography, Sins and Needles: A Story of Spiritual Mending, was published by Algonquin Books in 2002.
Materson’s exhibit, called Metamorphosis, is currently up at the Grand Rapids Art Museum until January 3rd, 2027, as part of a Michigan Artist Series.
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