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Former Belleville famous for glass works By JULIA DRAKE Staff Reporter Former Belleville resident Kevin Gray is gaining international acclaim for his hand-blown and formed glass creations. The artist, a graduate of Quinte Secondary School and various post- secondary art programs, has recent- ly participated in a host of exhibits and commissioned projects. Among recent commissions to Gray's credit is the two-year contract to create the tributes for Ottawa's civic awards program. This year's results, glass awards for exemplary community contributers, were presented Sept. 28 during a ceremony at the National Museum of Natural Sciences. In January, Gray executed eight curling awards for the Crystal Pebble Women's Curling Championships, and in February he received two con- tracts from the Swatch Watch Com- pany to do 64 World Cup Freestyle Ski Awards and Freestyle Grand Prix Awards, presented in Switzerland. Born in Belleville in 1959, Gray cur- rently resides in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec. The artist often combines metals -- including gold, platinum and silver, mixed with electroplated copper -- to "recreate precious art forms," he says. Gray's paperweights and scent bot- tles have won many design awards and they were among works ex- hibited when he presented a solo show at the Belleville Public Library Gallery in 1985. In recent weeks, Gray's work was displayed at the Snow Goose Gallery for the Ottawa Festival of Arts. And later this month, he will be part of a group exhibit of glass in Seattle, Washington. In November, Gray will join other Canadian artists and craftspeople at Toronto's One of a Kind Craft Show. Gray first studied glass-making as an art form at Barrie's Georgian Col- lege. He later studied architecture and hot glass at Sheridan College, Mississauga. Gray says his recently-created sculpture awards feature eight "lobes" which signify the steps reci- pients strive to achieve. (