W.R. (Bill) Craft
W.R. (Bill) Craft is a North Carolina artist and has been involved in the visual arts most of his life. After graduating from Brooks Institute in 1974, even though his first love was painting, Bill began his artistic journey in the medium of photography as owner/photographer of one of the top advertising photography studios in Dallas, TX. He has also worked as a graphic designer and art director in advertising agencies and design firms until his love for painting moved him to paint full time.
Interestingly, his painting style, in mixed media acrylic, seems to be a rebellion to the tight design and graphic structure found in advertising photography and agency offerings. His distinctive painting imagery is primitive expressionist, figurative and highly textural using many kinds of materials. It’s not unusual to hear him say “if I can stick it to the canvas and it says what I want it to say then on it goes.” Through his artwork the viewer is engaged and drawn into his figurative representations. His subjects reference emotions, drama, whimsy, literary and biblical characters and the human condition. His explorations can take on intense color renderings or the visual quiet of the monochromatic. One notices, in many of Bill’s paintings, that as you view them they also seem to be looking back at you.
Bill was born and raised in South Florida and received a BPA in Photographic Illustration/Art at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California.
Bill lives and paints in his studio with BJ The Wonder Dog near Greensboro, NC.