Bio
Anastasiya "Nastia" Craig (formerly Chepil) is a visual artist and interior designer of Ukrainian origin. Nastia's artistic journey commenced in her hometown of Odessa, Ukraine, at the age of 11 when she immersed herself in drawing, painting, and art history. At 17, she ventured to New York to pursue interior design, later settling in Madison, WI, where she currently resides and owns her independent Interior Design practice Pink House Designs, LLC. Exploring various artistic styles and techniques, Nastia's current focus lies in abstract mixed media collage. A Ukrainian immigrant, Nastia draws from her personal journey to express the layers of experiences shaping one's mindset, perception, and self-identification. Her ongoing exploration of the self, influenced by cultural origin, current environment, and life events, manifests in visually striking and emotionally charged creations. Nastia's work has been included in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums across the United States and resides in personal and corporate collections nationwide.
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION:
1992-2002 Private Art Lessons, Odessa, Ukraine
1998-2000 Cazenovia College, Cazenovia NY, AAS in Interior Design
2000-2002 New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury NY, BFA in Interior Design-Cum Laude
EXHIBITIONS:
Solo Art Installations:
2020 “2020 Lemonade”, Groovy Woods Studios, Madison, WI
2008 “Another Path”, Macha, Madison, WI
2004 “Songs of Black Sea Sirens”, Ancora, Madison, WI
Group Art Installations:
2024 “Outside the Box” VAR Small Works Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2024 “Super Fresh” Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2023 “Winter Gallery Exhibition” MARN, Milwaukee, WI
2023 “Mingles And Masterpieces” MMOCA Fall Gallery Night, Madison, WI
2023 “Agora Art Fair”, Fitchburg, WI
2023 “Art In The Park”, Lake Geneva, WI
2023 “Winter Gallery Exhibition” MARN, Milwaukee, WI
2023 “ArtScience of Innovation.” Promega, Fitchburg, WI
2023 “The Art, Sips, and Sounds” The Downtowners event, AC hotel, Madison, WI
2022 “Winter Art Show”, Local Motive, Madison
2022 “Miami 3.0”, Artbox.Projects, Miami, FL. Digital art display
2022 “We Stand With Ukraine”, Overt Space Gallery, Stoughton, WI
2022 47th Juried Annual Exhibition. Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
2022 “The Gardens of the Meta-Kingdom” JADA Paris Art Week, Paris France. Digital/ NFT art display
2022 MMOCA Fall Gallery Night. Group Show. 100 State and Monroe St. Family Dental, Madison, WI
2022 “Madtown Artisans Third Annual Spring Event”, Goodman Center, Madison, WI
2019 Group Art Display and Fall Gallery Night, Monroe St. Family Dental, Madison, WI
2013 Winnebago Portrait Art Studio Group Display, Spring Gallery Night, Overture Center of the Arts, Madison, WI
2012 Fall Gallery Night and Day, Hudson Business Lounge, Milwaukee, WI
2010 Artist Duo Art Display and Spring Gallery Night, Monroe St. Family Dental, Madison, WI
2006 Madison Area Open Arts Studios, Artist Studio, Madison WI
2005 Dark Side of the Moon, Madison Enterprise Center, Common Wealth Gallery, Madison, WI
2005 Madison Area Open Arts Studios, Artist Studio, Madison WI
2004 Madison Area Open Arts Studios, Artist Studio, Madison WI
PUBLICATIONS & INTERVIEWS:
2023 “Pink House Designs in Madison creates restaurants to remember” by Victoria Davis | The Cap Times, Aug 12, 2023
2023 “Spring 2023 Promega Art Showcase” interview with artists Todd Siler, Nastia Craig and Monica Cliff by Factv City of Fitchburg. Mar 22, 2023
2022 “Meet Bay Creek Artist Nastia Craig” Stanley Jackson | Bay Creek Bulletin, December 2022 LINK
2022 “Art exhibition by long distance friends benefits Ukraine” Emily Ness | Interview for WKOW Sep 2, 2022 Updated Sep 2, 2022
2022 “International friendship leads to Ukraine art show in Stoughton” Gayle Worland | Wisconsin State Journal Sep 2, 2022
2022 “Stoughton art gallery opens exhibit to raise money for Ukraine” Angelica Euseary | The Cap Times, Sep 1, 2022
2022 “Ukrainian artist designed RED and Jacknife in bold way” Samara Kalk Derby | Wisconsin State Journal Jun 4, 2022
Few Words From The Artist:
For as long as I remember, creating art has been a major part of my existence. It is a process that grows and evolves with me, posing new ways to express feelings, explore ideas and experiment with techniques. To me, the most special part of this process is finding the moment when the art piece becomes more than just a visual composition but engages the viewers in discovering a new meaning that they can interpret for themselves.
Few words about current work:
My mixed media collage approach is a multiple step process involving painting and drawing on acetate or polyester film that is then cut, arranged and adhered to a substrate and coated with a finishing medium. This process is ever-evolving and embraces experimentation and incorporation of various techniques. The development of the collage composition is mostly intuitive and non-premeditative on one hand, but at the same time is reflective of the overall state of my mind at the time of creation and is often influences by external events.
To learn more about past work please see below.
Evolution Of Work
Realism
Recreating surroundings via naturalistic representation method has been a backbone of my art education that I started in childhood years while studying drawing, painting and composition in my native homeland of Ukraine. It made me observe and analyze the subject in front of me, study its features and intricacies and also try to find something interesting about it that would be worth sharing with my audience.
Surrealism And Imaginary Realism
Surrealism, Imaginary Realism and Fantasy art have been my primary style of art focus in early years. I would draw inspiration from a variety of genres, such as mythological and folklore literature or while listening to some of my favorite musicians with their non-lineal lyrics and obscured poetry. With that being my influence, I was also relying on my intuition to guide me toward the storyline of my paintings, often creating them during the process. The signature attributes of that period were bright colors, intricate details and textures.
Mixed Media, Collage, Assemblage
When I moved to US, one of the biggest influences in my artistic journey was collage, mixed media and assemblage art that I discovered through interaction and collaboration with the other artists throughout the years. Maybe it was an idea of adding the 3rd dimension to an otherwise flat work that fascinated me or maybe I was captivated with idea of taking existing images and materials and finding a new way to arrange them. Either way- I had to sink my teeth into this area of art creation and try it out for myself!
Abstract and Reductive art
At some point I started moving away from realistic aspects of my art and headed towards abstraction and even reduction. I still kept my gravitas towards bright colors, bold patterns and detailed work, but the subject matter became less representational. It was partially due to an overall shift in my mindset from when I started and with me working as an interior designer, I felt inclination towards playing more with geometric shapes rather than life-like subjects. Another reason was me being less interested in detailing one artwork and rather focus on creating new compositions, which also called for a certain degree of simplification.
Abstract Mixed Media Collage
At the end, all previous searches brought me to this method, where I use combination of painting, drawing, collaging and even design to achieve multilayered colorful compositions. There’s still strong presence of my signature stylistic attributes such as bright colors, striking patterns and complex details. At the same time it is a whole new direction that I have much to explore. on my further journey ahead!