Craig Howarth

Craig Howarth creates layered analog collages from found materials, such as vintage magazines, maps, books, and discarded ephemera, to explore how images accumulate meaning over time. His recent work draws from the visual language of memory and media, assembling fragments into compositions that feel both archival and unstable. Working intuitively, he is interested in the tension between personal history and the collective narratives embedded in printed material.

His work reflects an ongoing interest in how visual culture shapes perception, identity, and nostalgia, particularly through materials that once circulated widely and have since been discarded or forgotten.

Craig’s process is materially driven and rooted in experimentation. He works primarily with found printed matter, allowing textures, color relationships, and accidental juxtapositions to guide the direction of each piece. Cutting, transferring, obscuring, and recombining imagery becomes a way of thinking through memory and visual association, with each composition emerging through revision rather than fixed planning.

Rather than presenting a single narrative, Craig’s work invites viewers to make their own connections between image fragments, references, and forms. He is interested in creating spaces where recognition and ambiguity coexist, allowing meaning to shift through close looking and personal interpretation.

CV

Craig Howarth
Born 1961 in Cleveland, OH, USA
Lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, USA

Group Exhibitions

2026, “Bird on a Wire”, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA.

2026, “Cut Three Ways”, Subculture Salon, Phildelphia, PA.

2026, “Restrictions”, Coupee Collage Collective, Zottegem, Belgium.

2025, “127th Annual Student Exhibition”, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA.

2025, “Winter 2025 Exhibition”, Resource Exchange, Philadelphia, PA.

2025, “Modern Fluxus”, Galeria Latarka, Warsaw, Poland.

2024, “126th Annual Student Exhibition”, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA.

2024, “Paper Trails”, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.

2024, “Now, One With Everyone!”, Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia, PA.

2024, “Collide Art Showcase”, Philadelphia Small Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.

2024, “New Mail Art”, BGSU Firelands Little Gallery, Huron, OH.

2009, “BWAC Spring Show”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY.

2008, “Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition”, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY.

2008, “BWAC Spring Show”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY.

2007, “BWAC Fall Show”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY.

2007, “BWAC Spring Show”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY.

Awards

2025, 2nd Place in Works on Paper category, “126th Annual Student Exhibition”, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA.

Commissions

2025, Commission of four related collages based on provided prompts, Private Collection, New York, NY.

Education

2024-2026, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA, Fine Art.

2007-2010, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, Graphic Design & Fine Art.

1980-1981, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, Photo Illustration.