I grew up in Brooklyn New York. I am the offspring of progressive white parents, both educators. I liked to draw from an early age, often emulating the work of my grandfather [also John Rae] who was an illustrator in the first half of the twentieth century, when most commercial illustration was executed with pen & ink. I attended public high school in Brooklyn and took weekend art classes at the Brooklyn Museum. My portfolio for entrance to collage was comprised of all pen & ink drawings. With this portfolio I won a city-wide competition for a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. When I got to SVA in 1979 the bathrooms were riddled with Keith Haring drawings, he had just graduated. New York was pretty raw back then and the art that i saw was too; graffitti, punk rock, experimental performance and installations. At that time I began to experiment with various mediums and to explore ways to express myself artistically. After college I was confronted with the need to make some money, which I did with carpentry and construction. I continue to experiment artistically and to work in construction, it has always been a bit of a struggle to do both and often my time for artistic projects is limited. But it is part of who i am, and i move forward in this way.