Karl ‘Jerry’ Craig was born in Jamaica in 1936. After completing his early education on the island, he moved to the UK to pursue formal art training, attending several London art colleges. Craig remained in the UK for over a decade after his studies, teaching art and textile design, including as a Senior Lecturer under the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), contributing to visual arts education in the capital during a period of considerable cultural and pedagogical change.
Painter, educator and cultural advocate, Karl ‘Jerry’ Craig was born in Jamaica in 1936. After completing his early education on the island, he moved to the UK to pursue formal art training. He attended several of London’s major institutions, including Camberwell School of Art, Goldsmiths College, and the London School of Printing, and graduated with a National Diploma in Design from St Martin’s School of Art in 1957. He later completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, USA. Craig remained in the UK for over a decade after his studies, spending 14 years teaching art and textile design. He held positions in secondary schools, teacher training colleges, and art schools across England, and served as a Senior Lecturer under the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), contributing to visual arts education in London during a period of considerable cultural and pedagogical change that saw a shift towards more inclusive and experimental approaches to art teaching in postwar Britain. In 1971 his work featured in the exhibition, Caribbean Artists in England held at London's Commonwealth Art Gallery.
Craig’s painting practice draws upon abstraction and symbolism, shaped by his early training in design and his enduring connection to the Caribbean landscape. While some of his contemporaries such as the Scottish-born, and later Jamaican based, Valerie Bloomfield and the Jamaican artist Alexander Cooper embraced realism, Craig abandoned it early and gravitated instead towards abstraction and stylised design. His education in the UK, combined with professional experience in graphic design and advertising gave his canvases a sleek and contemporary energy. His work is characterised by vibrant and iridescent colour, as well as densely textured surfaces with recurring, almost decorative-like, motifs inspired by regional Caribbean flora and fauna. He is inspired by the iconographies of Indigenous America, Africa and Asia. Rather than documenting social hardship, his compositions tend to express delight in natural beauty, light and atmosphere. Often described as abstract symbolism, Craig’s visual language combines aesthetic pleasure with cultural resonance. His works offer layered explorations of memory and belonging. His style - ranging from richly patterned, tapestry-like surfaces to pared-down linear figuration - recalls elements of those by contemporaries such as Aubrey Williams, but stands apart through its rhythmic and almost musical balance of form and colour.
In 1972, Craig returned to Jamaica to lead the Jamaica School of Art. His tenure as Head of School lasted ten years and saw the institution undergo significant structural and curricular transformations. He oversaw its relocation to a purpose-built campus on Arthur Wint Drive and introduced new departments in Fibre Arts, Jewellery, Art Education, History of Art and Photography. He also developed a comprehensive curriculum across all areas of study. Under his leadership, the school became a key regional centre for arts education, attracting students from across the Caribbean. With the support of UNESCO and the Organisation of American States (OAS), Craig helped to secure numerous scholarships for students to pursue further study abroad in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Germany, Colombia, Italy and the UK. Following his work at the Jamaica School of Art, Craig joined the Faculty of Arts and Education at the University of the West Indies, where he served as Resident Art Adviser and Chief External Examiner for teacher training institutions across the region, including Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas and Guyana. He was closely involved in the curriculum development of the Burrowes School of Art in Guyana and also consulted on secondary art education reform in Curaçao. Craig played a leading role in the integration of visual art into the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) syllabus, contributing to the formalisation of art education across the English-speaking Caribbean. He also represented Jamaica at international conferences and state visits and delivered scholarly papers at universities and cultural forums around the world.
Craig has held solo exhibitions in Jamaica, the UK, and the USA, and taken part in numerous group shows around the world. His paintings are represented in both public and private collections worldwide. Karl 'Jerry' Craig currently lives and works in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, while sustaining a lifelong engagement with the Caribbean through his art. His works are not held in any public collections in the UK.