This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Creating work that is rooted in the experience of living in Appalachia, Jeff Chapman-Crame does realistic landscape and figure paintings, primarily in the medium of gouache. His goal is to counteract negative stereotypical "Ma and Pa Kettle" images of his region with depictions of dignity and respect. He focuses on the rich tableaux of life in central Appalachia and the quality of light on the mountains. He is also an illustrator of children's books, and one of them, Ragsale, took best of show at the 1995 New England Book Fair.
He is a native of Tennessee and began his art career in 1974 and moved to the eastern Kentucky coal fields in 1982. He is self taught past high school and has worked as an artist-in-residence in area community colleges and as teacher trainer with the Collaborative for Elementary Learning.
The marketing of his work is done by Paul Young, a retired executive who has devoted himself to bringing job opportunities to the people in Kentucky Appalachia. In his travels, he met Jeff and was so taken with his artistic skills and abilities to express the life of that area that he has worked to get him exposure including representation in New York.
As a result of success there and elsewhere, Jeff is now supporting himself and his family with his painting. In May, 1999, he was featured in Southwest Art magazine as one of the 'Artists To Watch.'
Sources:
Editor, "Artists To Watch", Southwest Art, 1999
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Biography from Phyllis Weston Gallery:
|  Jeff Chapman Crane is an Appalachian artist who resides in Eolia, Kentucky. His highly realistic paintings examine the Appalachian experience with the goal of exposing the misconceptions and stereotypes that surround this rich culture. Crane is a master portraitist whose goal is to capture the dignity and complexity of his subjects. He paints with watercolor and gouache, as well as egg tempera.
With relatively little formal training, Jeff Chapman Crane has won numerous awards for his painting. He has exhibited his work in some of the finest galleries in New York as well as in Washington, D.C., California, Tennessee, and Kentucky. |
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