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Biography
Margaret Craig received a degree in Biology Secondary Education, a BS in Art and an MA in Painting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She received an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
She invented Tar Gel Pressless Etching and has demonstrated that and other techniques at national conferences. She is often involved in trade portfolios and exhibits locally, nationally and internationally.
Currently, she is Professor and Chair of Printmaking at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, TX. Her original Biology degree has been a major influence in the visual and ecological context of her work, and her shop promotes a less toxic approach to printmaking.
Artist Statement
My work is derived from printmaking methods; mixed media with or without support, and prints stretched over forms using a technique I developed. My work is about the manipulation of form that transforms the idea; a recreation of multilayered process found in nature. A degree in biology informs my work.
Sometimes work is a scientific pursuit of aesthetic sensibilities. The process controls the work, each layer a response to the results of the last experiment. The outcome proves the hypothesis of what might happen, and leaves me open to surprising results. The underlying imagery for me is about other worlds, and the portals between; worlds under the microscope or among the stars, drains, conduits and black holes.
There are also skins, translucent membranes on which the universe resides and puckers. Reflections and shadows through the work reference the alternative realities of string theory. Disembodied hands, skeletal structure revealed and referencing their own biological origins and mortality, play with the environments. I create synthetic natural processes, think pond scum or the dry earth cracking, in the service of my own making.
My art extends the process of human manipulation of natural influences that become decoration. It concerns contemplation of the ways we affect the plants and animals around us, and, sometimes how we may be affected by them. The excessive, compulsive process I use in my work evokes a quality of human over manipulation. My message is not overt. My intent is not to preach but instead create work that will engender thought about the relationship between humans and their surroundings.
