Craig Pursley    

Artist ~ Illustrator

(603) 747-3050 craigpursley@roadrunner.com 

Born in Nebraska in 1954, Craig began drawing before starting kindergarten. Lacking unlined paper in the house, he would pull out the liners from his parents record albums and fill them with drawings of horses and wildlife. With the encouragement of his parents, and better paper, Craig continued to grow in ability to the point he was doing freelance work before graduating high school. In 1971 he was chosen as Nebraska's Outstanding Young Artist. In 1972, he finished an 8 foot by 24 foot mural that still hangs at his high school.

After starting at Hastings College, he transferred to and graduated from Colorado State University in 1976 and immediately began teaching art at the middle school level. At the same time, he continued a part-time job he begun in college as a police composite artist for several law enforcement agencies including the FBI. Craig was credited with playing a pivotal role in the capture of many criminals with over 300 composite drawings.

Also during this time, Craig began to exhibit in galleries in Northern Colorado as well as enter shows where he often won or placed highly, including a Best of Show in a National Art Show in western Nebraska in 1983.

                                                                     

                                                                          Craig's oil painting of a '57 Chevy that was chosen as Best of Show

In 1983, Craig moved to Southern California where he began working for the Orange County Register newspaper as an illustrator, a job held for 23 years. During that time, he specialized in portraits of sports, political and entertainment figures for every section of the paper. 

                                                    

                                                   Detail from an illustration for the Garden Section of the Orange County Register Newspaper, 2002


In addition to his regular assignments, he was contracted by the Register to do posters on various subjects from USC football teams to the Anaheim Angels to the History of Flight. The Register also chose Craig to do a 14 foot by 40 foot mural on the Excelsior Building in Santa Ana, CA depicting Hispanic life.

Craig began a very popular series for the paper called Dreamscape in 1985. These consisted of an illustration (often surreal), a title and a caption from his imagination. Readers would then write stories to make sense of it all and submit those stories in a contest format. Winning stories were printed in the paper the following month. In this project he was given complete freedom and the results astounded his supervisors and his peers. Even for a large paper, asking readers to respond would often only net about 35 submissions. But the Dreamscape series regularly drew between 200 and 300 stories. Over the course of the whole series, the Register received over 9,000 stories from readers making it easily the most successful series in the paper's history.

                                                           

                                                                One of the 40+ Dreamscapes that ran in the Orange County Register

Aside from the paper, he was also involved with several freelance art projects, including working for the (then) California Angels, Topps Baseball Card Co., and Upper Deck Baseball Card Co for whom he painted the Heroes of Baseball Commemorative sheets. Many of his paintings and even a small Angels mural were on display in the movie, "Talent for the Game".

                                          

Heroes of Baseball Commemorative Sheet                 Craig presenting Nolan Ryan an original oil at Ryan's Angels Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

His work is owned by many professional athletes and can be seen in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, The Nolan Ryan Museum, and The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. His paintings are also in private collections from coast to coast and in Europe.


                                                                             

                        Craig, at right, presenting museum director, John Langelier, with his Reagan Mural at the Reagan Presidential Museum and Library

In 2002, Craig and his wife, Julie, moved to New Hampshire; while still maintaining his job with the Register until Nov. of 2006.

In 2003 he won Best of Show, 1st Place and Second Place in the Lilac Art Festival Show in Lisbon, NH. The following year, he won Best of Show and Second Place at the same show. Now he splits his time between NH and California where he enjoys painting the beauty of both regions. In New England, he and his wife, Julie, run the American Heritage Gallery of Art in Bath, New Hampshire.

                                         

Craig in front of his NH home with his "miracle" Corvair- the very one on which he learned to drive. He accidentally found it after 32 years, bought it back and had it restored. During the restoration, he found more than a dozen items from his family's past. Note the license plate.

Craig is a frequent contributor to various art shows and had two One-Man Shows in 2008. "Awakening- Rebirth of the Canyons" at Villas & Verandas Galery in San Juan Capistrano, California and "The Golden Hour" at The Banks Gallery in New London, NH.

                                                          

Craig during the question and answer segment of his One-Man Show Opening for "The Golden Hour" at the Banks Gallery in New London, NH, October, 2008

Craig is a member of the California Art Club and the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association and studied under Ken Auster at a workshop in 2003.

Find the most up to date information on where to find his work in galleries and shows as well as relavent updates in News & Events!