Artist Biographies

DANIEL CRAIG (1957 - )

Minnesota artist Daniel Craig is an accomplished illustrator whose work has appeared on numerous advertisements and book covers. A true Twin Cities person, the artist commutes from his home in St. Paul, which he shares with his family, to his thriving illustration studio in Minneapolis six days each week.

Craig's illustration is characterized by a sense of wholeness. Impeccably rendered in a precisely controlled palette with a soft natural lighting and a polished surface reminiscent of the old Flemish Masters whom he admires, his oil paintings have authentic dimension. "I like to capture form with a strong sense of roundness and wholeness. I love the sense of solidity you get from a single fruit...there is a natural sense of purity which intrigues me."

An avid antique collector, Bonsai plant enthusiast and musician, Craig "loves natural things in general, trees, fauna...I am drawn to the unity in nature. I transpose nature and stylize it in my mind to let it become my ideal nature...how I feel it should be." That philosophy of idealized form and stylization is evident in Craig's work including that which reveals the gently humorous and more than slightly human quality of animals. "I enjoy painting animals because I feel a tie with their life force which fascinates me...a certain calm and attitude of harmony which intrigues me. Animals seem integrated...and people see themselves in animals, a tendency which I find fascinating."

Craig's illustration includes work for 3M, DuPont, Ralston Purina, Northwest Airlines, Blue Cross-Blue Shield and United Way and he has twice been the recipient of the CLIO Award for Best Advertising Illustration.

BIRTHPLACE: Mankato, MN EDUCATION: Minneapolis College of Art & Design ADDITIONAL AWARDS: 1990 Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators

1991, '90, '89, '86 Award of Excellence, Communication Arts

1991 Art Directors Club of Toronto, Gold Award

1992 Certificate of Design Excellence, Print Magazine

Copyright (c) 1997 Bruce McGaw Graphics. All rights reserved.