Nastia Craig picks up one of her many brushes in her Madison basement art studio and starts applying white acrylic paint to a transparent piece of paper.
She later adds a tinge of light peach, as well as turquoise. Craig also uses a brush tool to create a stripe-like texture in the white paint to her left. The final product resembles a serene shoreline with a high tide, ocean waves, and foam. She says she will hang this painting up to dry to later cut it up into pieces to assemble into an abstract collage; one of the many that adorn her basement. In drawers are already cut up pieces comprising many colors, textures, and patterns. Some of what Craig includes in her collages are photographs, and even x-ray images. The final collage can be assembled on a canvas, a panel, or another surface. Subsequently, it gets varnished.
The initial stage of creating one of her works is the most “spontaneous,” Craig says, and meditative. And often, Craig works on roughly 10 pieces at a time. When working, she says time stops. Her mind goes quiet.
Craig was recently welcomed to the Carnelian Art Gallery family as we’ve added several of her abstract, eclectic collage works to our permanent collection of art. You can purchase one of the pieces, or commission Craig through us to create a custom piece of your own. Do so by stopping by our gallery at 221 King St., Suite 102, in downtown Madison, or by sending us an email at carnelianartgallery@gmail.com.
“It’s how parents feel when their kids when a prize,” Craig said of how it feels to have had works added to our collection.
The Madison artist is originally from Ukraine. She grew up in the country witnessing a turbulent transition to democracy and a more “Western” culture than that of the Soviet Union. Still, Craig was able to take painting and drawing classes in her youth, an experience she said she is thankful for. She credits her teachers for seeding her artistic passions.
Growing up in the Soviet Union, Craig said she never envisioned being able to study interior design in the United States, let alone live in the country.
Now, she’s forced to sit back and witness her home of Odessa, Ukraine, succumb to war a seemingly never-ending war with Russia. In conversations past, Craig opened up to me about how surreal and terrifying that’s been for her to process. Art helps with that, she has said.
Craig came to the U.S. at the young age of 17. She moved to study interior design in New York, finishing university in the early 2000s. Upon graduating, she moved to Madison. She’s lived in the city ever since.
“I changed a lot as an artistic person through this journey,” Craig said, adding that she wasn’t a big appreciator of abstract art when she was young. “My original direction was based on the human form. As the years went by, I was starting to feel a little disconnected. This was also when I was working a lot as a designer. That started shifting my visual language in different directions. I found the collage medium. I found it really speaks to me.
“I’m not forced by the boundaries of realistic paintings. It (encourages) analytical thinking. Putting the elements together and configuring them.”
She said she thinks of her pieces as a meditation of making sense of chaos; likely Ukraine’s war with Russia, as well as the unprecedented political turmoil and civil upheaval that plagues the U.S.
The message Craig wants to send with her pieces? Be passionate. Give yourself time to stop and observe. There’s “information coming from everywhere and everyone wants your attention.”
“We don’t really stop and appreciate the beauty and the sadness,” she said.
