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Russell Craig

Biography

DipAd Caulfield IT DipEd State Coll Vic FRMIT Tamarind Master Printer USA MVA Griff 

Craig's work has been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, and is included in the collections of the Queensland Art Gallery, Darwin Museums and Art Galleries board - permanent collection, Australian Embassy art Collection, Vietnam; Central Academy of Fine Arts art collection, Beijing; Griffith University art collection and the Brisbane Civic Art Gallery and Museum collection, as well as a numerous regional galleries in Queensland. 

He is an art educator teaching as a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. His teaching experience has covered tertiary undergraduate and post-graduate supervision. 

Craig commenced his art training in the early 1970's in Melbourne at the Caulfield Institute of Technology and a postgraduate fellowship year in painting at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Directly after his RMIT training he completed a postgraduate Diploma of Education at the State College of Victoria, Hawthorn. In the early 1980's he receive a Queensland Government SARAS postgraduate scholarship that enabled him to study a master printer qualification at the prestigious Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, USA. 
In 2003 he completed a Masters in Visual Art qualification at Griffith University.

Artist residencies in New Caledonia, China, Vietnam and Japan assisted in the research theme of 'cultural appropriation' and presenting solo exhibitions in Australia during this period. Over the past ten years he has visited Japan five times and as a result assisted in the several collaborative art & educational projects between Griffith University and various Japanese art universities. Craig's most recent solo exhibitions include Mana, held at the Brisbane Powerhouse in October 2009; Objects of Navigation, Fortyfivedownstairs Gallery, Melbourne, 2010 and Altered States, at the Redcliffe City Art Gallery in December, 2011. This latest exhibition is a survey show featuring prints and drawings completed over the past 30 years of his art practice. Many of his most recent works were inspired by trips to America, Morocco, France, Laos, Cambodia,Thailand and Japan. 

In October 2011, Craig was invited to participate in a residency with the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts (Geidai). At the conclusion of the residency, he exhibited his work in a group exhibition at the esprit GST sightseeing Art Project hosted by Geidai at the Sumida Riverside Gallery, Tokyo. 

  

Russell Craig is an artist, printmaker and educator.  He commenced his art training in the early 1970s in Melbourne at the Caulfield Institute of Technology and a postgraduate fellowship year in painting at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Directly after his RMIT training, he completed a postgraduate Diploma of Education at the State College of Victoria, Hawthorn. In the early 1980s, he received a Queensland Government SARAS postgraduate scholarship that enabled him to study a master printer qualification at the prestigious Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, USA.  He was the first Australian to be awarded this highly regarded printmaking qualification. In 2003, he completed a Masters in Visual Arts at the Queensland College of Art (QCA), Griffith University.

Craig is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art (Drawing & Printmaking) and Convenor of printmaking and life drawing courses at QCA, Griffith University. His area of printmaking specialty is lithography, and his responsibilities include teaching studio as well as supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

Artist residencies in the 1990s to New Caledonia, China, Vietnam, and more recently to Japan, assisted Craig in developing a research theme of 'cultural appropriation' and the influence of an Asian and Pacific aesthetics in his own art practice. More recently, he is researching ‘subliminal triggers’ that inspire the viewer’s subconscious and imagination. These themes explore the real and imagined forces beneath the ocean as well as a concern for the longevity of our natural environment.

He has visited Japan seven times and as a result he has assisted in several collaborative art and educational projects between Griffith University and various Japanese art universities. In October 2011, Craig was invited to participate in a residency with the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts (Geidai). At the conclusion of the residency, he exhibited his work in a group exhibition at the esprit GST[s3]  sightseeing Art Project hosted by Geidai at the Sumida Riverside Gallery, Tokyo. 

Russell Craig's solo exhibitions include Mana, Brisbane Powerhouse, 2009; Objects of Navigation , Fortyfivedownstairs Gallery, Melbourne, 2010; Altered States, Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2011; Slipstream, Redlands Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2013; and Subterranean, which was part of the art project Beneath the Surface at the Crane International Project Space in Philadelphia, USA, 2014. His most recent solo show, Five to One, was held at the POP Gallery, Brisbane, from 22 June to 3 July 2016. This latest exhibition featured large charcoal drawings, surfboards inlaid with printed images, and large digital prints. In May 2019, Craig exhibited a series of drawings at the Rashinban Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo . The exhibition was entitled “Yokohama Rain – Japan revisited”.

Russell Craig's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, and is included in the collections of the Queensland Art Gallery; Darwin Museums and Art Galleries Board; Australian Embassy, Vietnam; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Griffith University; and the Brisbane Civic Art Gallery and Museum, as well as a numerous regional galleries in Queensland. 

 

© Copyright Russell Craig 2023