Chris Rayburn is a practicing artist. He is a former member of the Lower East Side Printshop and was an MFA candidate of the Iowa Printmaking Workshop at the University of Iowa. He exhibited his work in group and solo exhibitions in the East Village of Manhattan in the 1980s and in traveling exhibitions of both prints and photography. He was included in the Silhouette show at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City in 2014. He exhibited his work at Quad City Arts’ Rock Island gallery in the fall of 2016 and the Moline Public Library in the fall of 2017. His work is currently included in the group show, Photosensitive at the Olson-Larsen Gallery in West Des Moines, Iowa July-September, 2018. Additionally, works from the series Transplanted, curated by Bill Carroll, will be shown in September of 2018 at the Blackburn 20|20 Gallery at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City.
In 1995, he became President and CEO of W.G. Block Co. and its family of businesses, a leading Midwestern manufacturer of ready-mix concrete, sand and gravel and steel road-building products. Under his leadership, the company turned around and expanded its revenue by over 400% while dramatically growing its footprint, profitability and return to employees. In fulfillment of a board-supported exit strategy, the company’s various businesses were sold between 2010 and 2012.
Mr. Rayburn has enjoyed over 25 years of experience working with non-profit organizations focused on the visual and performing arts. He is presently the President and Chairman of Board for Quad City Arts, a Midwestern arts organization in a six-county area in Iowa and Illinois. He is also the past curator of the Art @ the Airport gallery at the Quad City International Airport where he curated six exhibitions per year for over 15 years. Additionally, he has served as the Treasurer for the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts and as the VP of Collections and Secretary for the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa.
Mr. Rayburn’s prior work experience includes The Brooklyn Museum, Charles Cowles Gallery, and as the founder of Fine Art Collection Management. FACM specialized in the physical management of corporate art collections in the tri-state area, including those of General Electric, the Port Authority of NY and NJ and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in such varied locations as 30 Rockefeller Center, the prior World Trade Center and all major New York regional airports. He has additional past experience leading change in the arenas of public sculpture, museum collections and exhibitions, urban renewal, education and public libraries.