Daily Inspiration: Meet Craig Ford

Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Ford.

Hi Craig, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am an Atlanta native who was educated in the Fulton and Clayton County School Systems. While in high school, I was accepted into the Governor’s Honors Program in the field of art, studying drawing and photography at Wesleyan College in Macon, June to July 1978.

I attended Young Harris College as an fine art major for two years and then transferred to the University of Georgia, where I majored in Graphic Design/Illustration. Graduating in 1984, I worked at the Gainesville Times, Gainesville, GA, as staff artist/illustrator. While in Gainesville, hand participated in studio work at the Quinlan Arts Center.
   
In the late eighties, I was employed by the Howerdd Group in Augusta, GA, as a designer/ illustrator, working there until returning to Atlanta in 1992. I art directed for several ad/design agencies (FletcherMartin, Clarion, J.WalterThompson, Gill Design, and Brighthouse to name a few) until 1999, then opened my own design/illustration studio, located in historic Roswell, GA – Design by Ford, Inc.

I currently instruct drawing and painting classes at the Roswell Visual Arts Center and taught fine art and graphic design courses at my old alma mater Young Harris College in the 2018-2021 school years. And when I‘m not teaching, I“m in my studio working on art.

My artwork has been displayed in the 1986 Visual Arts: The Southeast exhibition in Atlanta, at the Grandview Art Gallery in Buckhead, the Defore Centre in Atlanta, at the Johns Creek Arts Center, Abernathy Arts Center, the Roswell Visual Arts Center, Resident Artists Gallery in Brainerd, MN, at the Metro Montage XIII, XIV, and XVI shows at the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. In 2023 I participated in a group exhibition “On Motherhood” at Kyoto Shibori Museum in Kyoto, Japan. And in 2024 and 2025 I made art onsite at Explore Brookhaven events. I also exhibited in Miami’s Art Basel during the 2017 and 2018 festival years. My work is part of several private and corporate collections in the U.S and in Europe.

I am currently represented by RobertKent Galleries, Marietta, GA

Blog: www.craigfordfineart.com

Instagram: @craigfordfineart

Facebook: Craig Ford

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t know if it’s ever “Smooth sailing” when you are doing something creative. My design studio was doing very well until the economy hit the “Great Recession”. It was difficult to recover. So I opted to make my design studio into an art studio and pursue the fine art transition. To supplement my income, I began to teach drawing and painting while exhibiting in several local group exhibitions around the Atlanta area, and other parts of the country where I could. Then I started to judge art shows when I could, and this led to an opportunity to instruct painting at my old alma mater, Young Harris College. At that same time, I got into a gallery in Marietta, GA. My art career seemed to be looking up.

Then the pandemic hit, and many businesses closed. This included the gallery I was in and led to my leaving the college. So I was back to working my way back up. Since then, I continued to exhibit locally and teach at the Roswell Visual Arts Center. I now work with srmART Connect, Explore Brookhaven, and was able to get into a nice art gallery. RobertKent Galleries in Marietta.

To paraphrase something I read once, “it’s tough being an artist when the economy is good and it’s even tougher when the economy is bad”. Trying to find and secure one’s niche for your art can be tricky, and when the economy gets squirmy, it just gets tougher.

My advice to artists starting out is just stick it out the best you can. If you have to take on a side hustle to make money, do it until you are able to get back on your feet. I am still working to find additional patrons for my work.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve always dabbled in art as a young child, whether it was working with modeling clay, drawing with crayons, or building things with cardboard and duct tape – I’m always making something.

Today, I find myself acting like a documentarian by sketching and painting things in my surroundings with ink and watercolors. I particularly like capturing a sense of light and space in landscapes, noticing how shadows define surfaces.

I also paint in oils, usually working with a still life that catch my eye, like shiny surface objects. Or painting slices of cake that I make up, but enjoy applying the paint as thick as cake icing on the canvas.

This all may sound too traditional, but I always hope to find interesting compositions and ways of presenting the commonplace. Finding a way to present the ordinary every day look new.

When asked what sets me apart from all the other artists around, all I can say is that I’m the best Craig Ford painted I know.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
When I was in school and at college, I thought that I might like to get into filmmaking. I made several 8mm films, many with stop motion animation elements that I would make to animate. Back in the day, the opportunities to make short or full-length films didn’t exist as they do today with technology and the rise of films being made in the Atlanta area.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.craigfordfineart.com
• Instagram: @craigfordfineart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craig.ford.474044/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-ford-3ba2a15/
• Other: https://www.robertkentgalleries.com

Image Credits
The “Pandemic Life” was an art installation done at the Campus Gate Gallery in Young Harris, GA back in 2021.