Meet Craig Muderlak: Artist and Outdoor Enthusiast

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HCRB:  How long have you been a climber?

Craig:  I have been a climber for about 18 years, since I was 18 years old.

HCRB:  Where are you originally from?

Craig:  I’m originally from Wisconsin, born and raised. I was first introduced to climbing in high school but really began climbing when I went to college in Colorado.

HCRB:  You heard that calling to the mountains at a young age.  Describe…

Craig:  I remember growing up with a bug for adventure. I was obsessed with snow and would sometimes build snow caves in my backyard and spend the night in them when I was a kid. I associated mountains with adventure and knew that when I grew up that I would move west.

My dad was an artist and designer so I also grew up with a artistic and crafty side. Since I can remember, I’ve been combining these two passions, art and the outdoors. In fact, the pivotal moment I remember knowing that mountains, art, and adventure would be a part of my life happened as a young kid in Wisconsin. I was paging through a magazine (I forget which one) article about backcountry skiing in the Maroon Bells Wilderness in Colorado. Immediately, I knew I wanted to be that type of person – one that explores the backcountry and spends as much time as possible adventuring in the mountains. I decided to try and alter a duffle bag to accommodate skis. I started sewing on additional straps so I could clip on skis. While I was using a piece of plastic as a thimble to urge the large needle through thick nylon, the eye of the needle popped through the plastic, directly through my thumb and out the other side. Without hesitating, I quickly pulled the needle out as my mom peered her head into my room. It was almost as if in that moment I was struck with the adventure bug.

HCRB:  You currently live in RI? Why the move from Boulder, CO?

Craig:  I currently live in RI. Previously, I had lived out west beginning from the time I graduated from high school. After graduating from College, I spent most of my time working as an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), spending much of my time in Wyoming, Washington State, Utah, and Colorado.

Prior to moving to RI, I was living in Boulder, CO working as a mountain guide. I moved to Providence to be with my partner and a unique job. I work as the director of a commercial video and photography studio that mentors high school youth in an under-served community. The youth participants have the opportunity to learn job skills while working on legitimate, client based commercial art. It has been a unique experience for me, living away from the mountainous Western US and working in an urban setting. Despite being away from the landscape that I have come to love, I’ve learned a lot from the experience.  Mentoring high school youth who don’t have access to the wonderful outdoor experiences has been a very rewarding and important experience for me.

HCRB:  How long have you been an artist?

Craig:  Art has been a part of my life since I was born. My father is an artist and some of my earliest memories are of him teaching me to draw and paint. I can remember painting photos of animals from National Geographic when I was just a few years old. Throughout my adolescence, art served as a strong influence in my life; and in college, I continued to pursue art. I attended a liberal arts college (Colorado College) because I was interested in most everything including the sciences and social sciences. While I did pursue art in college I was not interested in going to an art school. Having access to a liberal arts education and studying a variety of subjects (as well as having access to the mountains) had a profound influence my life’s trajectory.

Fitz FINAL from Craig Muderlak on Vimeo.

HCRB: Describe your style?

Craig:  I have a variety of artistic interests and sometimes disparate styles. I would describe the landscape illustration many people are familiar with as abstract landscape. However, despite representing specific landscapes, I don’t necessarily consider myself a landscape artist. I am not trying to depict the beauty of these places as a photograph would. Instead, I try to share my human experience and connection to these places with an impulsive and gestural style of exaggerated colors, text, and contours. I strive to depict a raw energy and passion that reminds myself and the viewer, not necessarily what the place looks like, but how it makes us feel. My use of text originates from a background in book arts, journaling, and a yearning to share the human experience associated with adventure and the outdoors.

My art has been a way for me to express myself in a variety of ways not limited to human experiences associated with climbing, adventure, and mountainous landscapes. While many people are familiar with these landscapes, I also have a more conceptual body of work not influenced by landscape. This body of work includes large acrylic and oil canvases, illustrations, and even sculptures that have little or nothing to do with the outdoors and instead are more about pattern, color, human emotions, and more. Some of my more conceptual art is not listed on my website. Additionally, I write and record music and often use this music in my films. A recent film I had in the Boulder Adventure Film festival called “Maiden Light,” about aerial fabric dancing off the backside of the Flatirons in Boulder Colorado, featured all original music I wrote.

Art, no matter the media, no matter the style, no matter subject, is an adventure.

HCRB:  Who influenced your style?

Craig:  My Dad influenced my style more than anybody. While he was not a landscape artist, and mostly worked with very abstract shapes and design, my Dad definitely influenced my style the most. The older I get and the more work I create, the more I see my Dad’s influence in my hand. Even when my subject looks very different from his, upon closer inspection, I see his influence in my use of impulsive line-work, color, and combination of gestural and technical qualities is quite evident. It is as if we’re speaking the same language but talking about different things.

HCRB:  What is your favorite piece that you have recently done? Why?My favorite piece that I have recently done. From my landscape illustrations probably “The Valley Saffron,” and then I also recently finished a large acryllic painting commission that I really enjoyed.  However, some of my all time favorites were from a series of illustrations that I did for a show a few years ago which were loosely based off of Cochise Stronghold in AZ. I began creating the series of 8 illustrations in my tent while I was working a three week NOLS course there. What I most enjoyed about these, were that they really shared a comprehensive human experience. Just like spending a bunch of time in Cochise in order to feel a sense of place, these illustrations required the viewer to spend time looking at them and absorbing all of the story.

HCRB:  Do you have a favorite place to go outside?

Craig:  One of my favorite places to spend time outside is climbing on the Diamond on Longs Peak (Rocky Mountain National Park). I spent many days exploring the routes up there and one thing I like about it was how accessible of an adventure it was.

HCRB:  Give 3 tips to someone just getting started with going outside.

Craig:  1) Stay hydrated.  2) Prepare -some 1st aid training and do adequate research on where you’re going and what you need to know.  3) Enjoy the night sky.

HCRB:  Top 3 books you have read.

Craig:  1) “Wind Up Bird Chronicles – by Haruki Murakami 2) Cadillac Desert – by Mark Reisner 3) James and the Giant Peach – by Roald Dahl

HCRB:  Where can we see your art?

Craig:  You can see my art at: www.muderlakart.com