Craig: Let's see... how old am I? I made my first drawing when I was 9, on a record, a 45, it was something that I appreciated, that's how I learned to appreciate art. I been doing it ever since. That's 36 years.
I do painting, acrylics, watercolor, illustration; pen and ink, sculpture (assemblage, found object, whatever you want to call it). I do writing as well; short stories and poetry. I do art in some form every day. It's more a form of therapy than anything else.
It's more than just art for me, it's an approach to life. I like it, it's very satisfying. It's very personal, very emotional. It's great. I don't have to ask anyone's permission to do it, it doesn't matter if anyone likes it, one person may like it, another may not. That's not what's important, to me. It†s important that I do it. I don't even have to show it to anybody afterward. I'm more into the process than the result. It's not important that you finish, it's important that you do it. But you must finish.
N.L.: Why do you do assemblage?
Craig: There's a lot of reasons. One is access to materials. Anything I find I can use in my work. Basically what I†ve tried to do is empower the things that I find to be some form of expression.
I do assemblage because I can find them anywhere. I can find them at garage sales, in my backyard, in the back room, in my best friend's back yard, it doesn't matter what the objects are. I don't necessarily look at the objects for what they are, I look at them for their form, and then I look at them for what their functions were. Then I marry, I put their marriage together over and over, until they're pleasing. I juxtapose one square and one circle, the square may be a trinket, some thing for jewelry, the circle may be a smoke bomb. The relationships, they don†t come together naturally. I put them together.
I believe it's good to use objects as many times as possible, until they virtually exhaust themselves, without getting into recycling per seî you know the old adage- one man's trash is another man's treasure. Then it's fair to make an artistic expression with them. It's very personal, very emotional. I give objects the power to say something I can't.
NL: Where do you get the stuff that you use to make your art?
Craig: I get it everywhere. I'm a dipsy dumpster diver, I'm a garage sale addict, I'm a treasure seeker, I pick things up I go look for things, but I also create things.
N.L.: Where have you exhibited?
Craig: I've had stuff in the Anchorage Museum of Art, in Washington D.C., Juneau, San Francisco, I have a show up now at Hot Licks. Lemon Grass, I'm working on something for them. I have an on-going exhibit at Sound Designs, they've always supported me in a lot of ways.
NL: What are some of your favorite local artists? Do you like any local artists?
Craig: Oh, yeah, I do. There are an incredible number of artists in Fairbanks. I think per capita, Fairbanks has some really outstanding artists. One of my favorites is David Mollett. I really like him, his different ways of expression in paintings, and I like the subject matter quite a bit. Of course it's pretty realistic but it comes across in a surreal way.
I like Craig Cheledinas, I like his work quite a bit.
N.L.: His Ice Sculpture.
Craig: He emulates everything he does, he's a living artwork.
I like Steve Lester. I really like his work in realism with bronze You know he did the Jerry Garcia bust. He captured him very well.
N.L.: And he never even heard of Jerry Garcia.
Craig: In a way it was kinda good cause he had to learn about the man.
NL: How do you feel about doing art in Fairbanks, as far as exposure and do you think you can get anywhere in the world of art from here?
Craig: First off I don't think it's really purposeful for anyone to think they can get anywhere in art. I think art is everywhere it can possibly be at any given moment. If somebody wants to pick you up and pay you money for it, I think that's really great, but I don't think it's something you should depend on at all.
Secondly I think Fairbanks is as good a place as anywhere else in the world. It's a matter of what you do for yourself and your work. If you want to put yourself out there, you'll find a way. If you don't, then you'll complain. Most people are dissatisfied with Fairbanks as a general rule. I think that†s because people have so many expectations. It's such a mental life here, we survive on a mental level, that's the irony of living in Fairbanks. Everybody thinks everything is... how can I say this without sounding too bitter, everybody is dissatisfied about being here, but yet they don't have any idea where the hell they want to be.
N.L.: And they don't want to change it.
Craig: Exactly. They just want to bitch about it.
N.L.: If you think Fairbanks sucks, do something about it.
Craig: Fairbanks does not suck, Fairbanks is a great place. It really is. It's a matter of what you want to make of it. In an art perspective, you can do anything you want here, because everything transgresses Fairbanks. If you want to put your art in a competition, you'll find yourself a dealer, you'll find yourself in San Francisco. If you're not good, but if you diligent. I believe that, I really do. Most people just don†t have patience to be that diligent about their work. They're satisfied to let it be right here, and that's it. That's O.K. too, but if that's what you want, then don't expect anything else.
N.L.: You have to get in and work.
Craig: You have to work hard if you want it, you have to go and get it. No one's gonna come and give it to you that's for sure. I'm a perfect example of that, I live in Ester, not much happening in Ester, my art work certainly isn't no standing David, it's very subjective, in the sense that it stands alone. There's nothing to compare it to. But at the same time I've shown in Washington DC, I've shown in San Francisco, I've shown in Anchorage, I've shown in a lot of museums around the state, you don't think they just picked me up cause they said, "I know there's somebody in Ester, there." I had to put myself out there, I had to call them up and talk to them. I had to show myself and say this is what I have, do you want it? And they said, "yes" some times, not all the time, but sometimes. I'm very excited about that, I think it's remarkable to even be recognized, let alone to be exhibited.
Last year I was very lucky, I put some of my writing work out, you know how it is you're a writer, you're very vulnerable when you put it out, I have a stack of rejection letters this thick, well I was lucky, some one said, "Hey, that's a nice piece of work, I†m gonna put it in this publication for you." TA DA!
N.L.: Do you think the environment here influences people†s work?
Craig: Definitely, very much so. In a manic way. We're very lucky here in that we have an environment that forces us to be interactive. We have more snow, we're colder than anywhere else. We can't just "Let it be", as John Lennon says. If you wake up and you're cold you have to warm yourself up. Warm ourselves to our environment, to our own hearts. I think that's what makes the art so vibrant, colorful. We are a very expressive people. I think you find that in every medium here whether it†s radio, or painting, or ice.
One thing is we always base ourselves against others. We don't care how they do it in Seattle. Fuck Seattle. We want to be respected for who we are and for who we've become. We're different and we're very proud of that.
NL: You said before you prefered short stories, why is that?
Craig: It's a real good way to do it, and it's a real good way for Fairbanksans to understand, the simplicity of limited everything. Because we are a consuming race. And if we don't learn to limit ourselves, well it's self-evident right now, we got to learn to limit ourselves in a lot of things. We have to do it personally, we don't have to do it for other people. We have to stop consuming, more and more and more. We gotta stop the verbiage. Verbiage, verbiage, verbiage. And we say nothing or we come right back to where we were. Oh is that where we were at? It's nothing new. Be succinct, be concise, be to the point. Take a risk, think.
NL: So you do writing as well. What sort of places have you been published in?
Craig: Mainly in poetry, short stories haven't been accepted that well. Anthologies of American Poetry, several different volumes, one called Whispers, which is American Anthology of American Poetry. The local Fireweed.
Short stories are very challenging. I'd like to take the theme and say, "I can do that in 100 words", and then say, "I can do that in 50 words", and then 25, then, "I can do that in a Haiku in one sentence!" I think that would be great fun.
N.L.: Yea.
There are a lot of good writers here, but it's hard to get people motivated to show their talents.
Craig: That's always been my thing about Fairbanks, I love Fairbanks, but the minute someone starts to bitch, I say what have you done? Nothing. Then shut up. If you're a writer and you want to put yourself out there, take a risk.
NL: I think there's a lot of apathy in Fairbanks. But that's not what I want to talk about.
Craig: No, but it's part of the movement of thought and how it moves around here. Life isn't good all the time. Example, I invited my son and two other twelve-year olds to join me, in the exhibit at Hot Licks Ice Cream because, I thought it would be an opportunity for them to see what goes on in the local art world. One, Arum Wool, Jeff's son, he did the first one there, [gestures toward the wall] and it's like he's at the Museum of Modern Art. It's as if he won a Nobel Prize or something. It's on the wall. It's very exciting to him, so this has motivated him to do a lot of things. It's good. And also I'm a recognized artist, he's part of that. People are giving him feedback, and he thinks he's the cat's meow, and he is. But there were two other kids who didn't do anything. They didn't finish. You don't even know if you can do it then, if you don't finish.
NL: So do you have any advice for Fairbank's artists or young artists?
Craig: Take a risk. Put yourself out there, feel what it's like to be vulnerable. Feel what it's like to be criticized, and enjoy the criticism, but don't take it personally. Don't be afraid to take the chance. What you'll get back will be ten-fold. It may not be what you wanted, but I guarantee you will get some information back.