Craig Carlisle was born in Oklahoma on May 1, 1964. His father a United Methodist minister, and mother, a leader in the social service community, helped him develop an uplifting and optimistic style of painting. Craig believes that art is a vehicle in creating harmony between people and that our souls are attracted to this exchange of energy.

During his teen years, Craig and his family relocated to Columbus, Ohio. Craig attended The Columbus College of Art and Design and worked as a paid intern in the summer months with the highly respected Nimbus Gallery in Dallas. It was there that Craig was first influenced by the artwork of Fritz Scholder. The large-scale oils of Scholder impacted Craig’s vision and created a movement to produce intense and emotive artwork.

Carlisle received his BFA from CCAD in 1988, and began to pursue his dream of creating art on a full time basis. The response was favorable: national awards, large-scale commissions, and hundreds of paintings in private and corporate collections.

Craig’s first series as a professional artist included flowers and gardens. They were his first opportunity to express his love for beauty and sensitivity to color. After creating hundreds of flower and garden paintings, Craig felt the need to create new subject matter and the result was the Big Heads.

Craig painted the Big Heads not knowing if they would be accepted by the contemporary art world. However, with much determination, he isolated himself in his warehouse studio for over a year and put together an impressive collection of thirty Big Head paintings. These large-scale paintings allowed him to put on canvas any expression that he was feeling, thus permitting Craig’s soul to completely communicate without resistance or limitation

In July of 1994, Craig showed the new series. The event ran for only two hours and half of the thirty Big Heads sold to some of the strongest art collectors in Columbus.

Currently Craig has moved his interest to much smaller works that resemble the classic Big Heads, but with more refined brush strokes. The change was introduced with a series he created in the year 2000 called the Angel Heads. Craig now resides in California and at present is working on his next exhibit to be held in the spring of 2003.

www.craigcarlisle.com

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© Melt Magazine 2003