Black Artists Matter: a selection of influential African American artists from Texas A&M University Collections

Charles Criner
1945 –

(Image source: Peggy Woods, holidappy.com, “Juneteenth Meaning and Charles Criner Art Posters”, March 13, 2020)

Artist Biography

Charles Criner was born in Athens, a small town in East Texas. He attended Texas Southern University in Houston between 1964 and 1968 where he learned from artist Dr. John Biggers. Criner supported himself through college by painting signs and designing billboards for Posters Inc. in Houston. After graduating he worked for NASA creating drawings for Apollo 11 before he began a career as an advertising art director for The Houston Post where he worked until the paper closed in 1995.

Between 1970 and 1972 his work at The Houston Post was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. As a serviceman, Criner used his artistic talents to publish cartoons as writer and artist in the Armed Forces Press Service. His series of “Johnny Jones” cartoons was printed in all of the army newspapers. He was also commissioned to create posters and signs for military bases, as well as portraits of captains and other high ranking soldiers.

After The Houston Post paper closed in 1995, Criner continued making prints, lithographs, ads, and cartoons. Since 1997 he has been the Artist-in-Residence at the Museum of Printing History in Houston where he leads workshops in printmaking. All of Criner’s work notably draws on images and memories from his own childhood as well as observations about the world around him. One of the pieces on display here, “Fishing at Rollover Pass” is drawn from a memory of being at the Texas Bolivar Peninsula during the croaker run, which happens in the early fall, when thousands of fish fill the Pass and fishermen crowd its banks, struggling against stiff currents and tangled lines.

To the right of “Fishing at Rollover Pass” is “Love in Need of Love”, Criner produced this drawing in the 1970s as a response to a Stevie Wonder song called Love’s in Need of Love Today”. Criner explains: “I was in my studio at home, and put a sheet of paper on my wall, and the image of those two girls just came. I think it may be my most popular piece – people have been buying it all this time.” The third piece in this selection is “African Merchant”, which was drawn during a 2003 trip to South Africa organized as a student project with Texas Southern University. Criner’s experiences in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Alexandria and other townships continue to inform his work today, specifically with a focus on character studies like this one.

Charles Criner recently published his first book, “The Children of George”, a children’s picture book about his childhood spent growing up and exploring Athens, TX with his brothers and sisters.