Joseph Craig English is an American artist (born 1947 in Washington, DC) predominantly known for his

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...

prints focusing on street and landscape scenery of and about places around the Greater Washington, DC area. He currently resides and works in the historic community of Washington Grove, Maryland.

Education

He received a BFA in Communication Arts and Design in 1970 from the School of Art at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

Richmond, VA (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

Artwork

According to the artist, he was introduced to silkscreen printing in his ninth grade art class. Subsequently, and since 1972, he has been showing and selling his artwork at outdoor arts festivals throughout the country as well as regional exhibitions. In focusing his art on the scenes around his region and the capital area, the artist has been described as ''"local color adopts new meaning with this celebrated DC-area printmaker. English found fame by focusing on what we see every day but so often take for granted."'' Though his streetscapes now include places in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, the artist has become associated with the Greater Washington capital region via hundreds of silkscreens of familiar sights to Washingtonians. T''he Washington Post'' noted about his work: ''"Craig’s work is instantly recognizable. His specialty is screen printing, and he has a distinctive style, photorealistic, with crisp edges and blocks of bright color: buildings, neighborhoods, street scenes, sports scenes . . ."'' His work was described in a 2013 show at the Betty Mae Kramer Gallery in

Silver Spring, MD Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

as ''"a bold and beautiful display of artworks that explore community–here in Montgomery County..."'' Curator Dr. Michele Cohen noted about his work:

''English directs our attention to the play of light and shadow, leaf patterns, and architectural ornaments that might go unnoticed. He often focuses on doorways, cars, signage, window frames, and stoops, recasting his subjects into bold color compositions built from successive printings, sometimes with as many as forty colors.''

His work is in the permanent collection of several museums, including the

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the su ...

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...

, Fort Lauderdale Museum, and the Museum of Western Virginia. It is also included in the public collections of the City of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, DC Commission of the Arts,

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, IBM,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

, U.S. State Department,

Montgomery County, MD Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...

, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'',

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

and others. In 2012, the Washington Metro Airports Authority commissioned him to create an edition of original serigraphs to mark the 50th Anniversary of

Dulles Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fai ...

. In 2020, he created an outdoor mural for the city of Falls Church, Virginia.

References

External links

Joseph Craig English website
''Joseph Craig English: Artist'' - Video by County Cable Montgomery {{DEFAULTSORT:English, Joseph Craig Artists from Washington, D.C. Artists from Maryland Virginia Commonwealth University alumni American printmakers 1947 births Living people People from Montgomery County, Maryland