Briar Craig

Briar Craig, B.F.A., M.V.A.

Associate Professor: Printmaking, Photography and Drawing
Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies

Office: FIN 165
Tel: 250-807-9765
Email: briar.craig@ubc.ca

Research Interests: Contemporary printmaking theory and practice, popular culture, interactive installation, innovation sustainability and safe practices in printmaking, curatorial practices.

Curriculum Vitae

Artist Statement:

My studio practice and art making interests focus almost exclusively in the area
of screenprinting. One of the reasons that I have become an ardent printmaking
advocate is for its ability to amalgamate and synthesize diverse imagery,
materials, and approaches to art making. For me, print media allow incredible
creative latitude and they perfectly reflect and form the foundations of much of
our mass media-based culture.

My subject matter has evolved from my interests in the nature of photo-generated
media and contemporary consumer culture. I am interested in the kinds of
seemingly incidental and often peripheral experiences that we all have on a
daily basis. I have always been a dedicated hunter, gatherer and channel surfer
and for a number of years I have been photographing and collecting a reserve
of visual flotsam and jetsam - torn magazines, rusty signs, advertisements,
graffiti, fragments of text, de-contextualized photographs, textured surfaces,
found objects, television images, National Geographic magazines, etc. - things
that we encounter so frequently they are almost no longer visible to us. I am
interested in the process of selection, interpretation and association that I go
through when confronted by these sorts of things and I mainly use the technologies
available to me through the media of printmaking to facilitate my fragmented
assembly of this imagery.

My intention is to allow for the creation of an almost narrative-like dialogue
between the viewer and their interpretation of the various parts. Ultimately,
I am attempting to make personal, idiosyncratic sense of the barrage of imagery
and information that we are bombarded with every day. In the so-called
‘information age’ we have been conditioned to absorb and respond to ever
increasing quantities of sensory information and I am suggesting the
things that catch our individual attentions share common thematic threads.

to top

Last reviewed 11/20/2009 5:09:57 PM

A l' Anglaise
A l’Anglaise
2006
screenprint
12 x 15”