The Vault: Kim Craig - Wanderlust

Kim Craig Artist Statement:

I create heavily textured mixed media paintings using charcoal, inks, crayons, acrylics and oils. I focus on organizing my designs carefully to achieve spacial tranquility and build my surfaces by incorporating textured mediums, newsprint, cloth, monotype prints and sometimes even spices.

I am heavily inspired by current social issues and by relationships between diverse cultures. Much of my work is also influenced by the ancient archeological sites I grew up exploring and I am intrigued by the connections between past and present. I like to think of painting as an excavation - solving a mystery and finding jewels and golden gems along the way. Some of my earliest memories involve expeditions to ancient archeological sites. My mother would amuse us by teaching us Phoenician burial poses and we’d spend hours digging in the sand searching for pottery shards and old coins.

Painting is like those childhood days for me - unearthing the traces others have left behind. I love being connected to others that way.

Kim Craig Bio

Kim Craig is an American mixed media artist who has lived most of her life in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She currently resides in Raleigh, NC. Her paintings are motivated by the places she has lived in and their history, especially archeological sites she explored growing up and African villages and towns where she worked for over 30 years designing systems to improve women’s access to financial services.

Over the past 3 years, Kim has participated in numerous group shows:
Gallery 311 Abstract Matter Juried Show, Raleigh, NC. Awarded Honorable Mention. 2020.
Art in the Time of Corona Vol I. Dab Art Co. Los Angeles, CA. 2020. Persistence III National Juried Show. D’art Center, Norfolk, Virginia. 2021.
Cary Gallery of Artists’ Thirteenth Annual Small Treasures Juried Exhibit featuring small works of art by North Carolina artists. 2021.
Tribute National Juried Show. D’Art Center, Norfolk, Virginia. 2021.
Van der Plas Gallery, Earth to Sky Group Exhibit, Soho, NY. 2021.
Fine Arts League of Cary Annual Juried Exhibit. Cary, NC. April 2021.
Art 2 Life 2021 International Juried Exhibit. Online Show. 2021.
In The Abstract, Southern California open Regional Exhibitions Show. Awarded First Place. 2022.
Verum Ultimum Gallery’s 9th Abstract Sanctuary Show. Oregon. 2022.
23rd Diversia international online group show by Exhibizone promoting diversity and awareness through art in relation to United Nations international events. 2022.
Macon Arts Gallery National juried Exhibition “Abstract”. Macon, Georgia. 2022.
Providence Art Club National Open Juried Exhibition. 2022.
Raleigh Fine Arts Society ‘s North Carolina Juried Artists Exhibition. Raleigh, NC. October 2022.