Craig Stockwell
Craig Stockwell studied at Dartmouth College and Rhode Island School of Design. He received an MFA degree from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
He has shown his drawings and paintings extensively in New England and nationally. His work is in many permanent private and public collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He was a 2002 recipient of a New Hampshire Independent Artists Grant. In 2013-14 he was awarded a Residency Fellowship at the Sharpe-Walentas Space Program in Brooklyn. In 2015 he was awarded a Residency at Virginia Center for Creative Arts. He participated in the 2016 Biennial exhibition at the DeCordova Museum and was published in “New American Paintings” 2016.
Stockwell lives in Keene, New Hampshire. He Directed the MFA program at NH Institute for Art from 2013-2020. Currently he teaches in the MFA programs at Lesley College and Mass College of Art.
Q&A with Craig Stockwell
How would you describe your background?
suburban Boston, not a particularly cultured family. No art.
When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
I went to Dartmouth College in 1970. First semester I took an art class, I had done no art in HS. In my Sophomore year I transferred o RISD to be an artist.
What would surprise people to learn about you?
10 years as an Outward Bound Instructor.
How would you describe your art to someone who has never seen it?
Abstract painting asking questions about the world and the life we live and how we live it.
What achievements in the area of art are you proudest of?
People being made to feel special from seeing my paintings hanging in the waiting room at Monadnock Family Services. Permanent work at the Boston mFA. Teaching graduate students for 20 years.
How would you describe your art process?
Very improvisational based on a life tie of working and gathering methods and kills. At this point I am a dancer that knows the steps, just trying to always re-think them.
What is your usual studio/working day like?
Never usual, always a combination of making, reading, teaching, social media.
What is the most delightful part of your life outside of work?
Seeing the sun shine on things.