- Raymond Floyd discovered that he could draw when he was in second grade.
- Raymond Floyd inspired many students to pursue careers in art and art education,
Thirty years worth of artists from Spartanburg’s south side can trace their creative beginnings to Raymond Floyd.
Floyd, an artist and educator, came to Spartanburg from Orangeburg in 1963 and taught hundreds of middle and high school students in Spartanburg County School District 7.
Raised with his older brother by his grandparents, his love of and talent for art was evident from a young age.
“He discovered that he could draw when he was in second grade. He was shocked that all the other kids in the class couldn’t draw. He thought everybody could draw,” his daughter Heather Mitchell said.
In seventh grade, Floyd was selected to participate in an art program led by James McFadden, at Claflin University, a historically Black university in Orangeburg.
“He (McFadden) came over to do practice teaching, and they had to have a made-up class because there was no art curriculum in the Black public schools in Orangeburg at that time,” Mitchell said. “After he did that class with James McFadden, he decided that day that he was going to be an art teacher.”