NEIS helps Craig paint a brighter future

Craig Ruddy, Artist

When Craig Ruddy won the prestigious Archibald Prize for his portrait of Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, it was the culmination of years of hard work and a heartfelt desire to be true to his artistic talent.  However it was also the structure and support of the NEIS course which allowed Craig to turn his dream into a successful  business.

After completing his studies in design, Craig successfully applied his creativity to the commercial world of graphic design, interior design and event management, but knew his real career aspirations lay elsewhere.

'I moved around in the field then I'd take a year off every now and then and get back into the painting or drawing. Then I'd run out of money and go back into graphic design again,' he admits.

When a friend told him of an artist who had completed the NEIS course, Craig seized the chance to turn his passion into a full time career.

'Doing NEIS made me feel more comfortable about pushing myself and going to approach galleries and so forth. Writing the business plan, and the whole process of having to put the proposal together, helped put me into the future whereas I was never one to plan in the past. And that does help, it helps you to structure the future and create that. And see the big picture.'

Craig also found that the encouragement of David Baumgarten at ESBEC pushed him to complete the course and believe that he could achieve success with his painting. All that was lacking was self-belief and a support structure, as David observes:

'I could tell when Craig applied for the NEIS course that he had a special talent and great potential - he just needed a framework to help him take the first steps and believe that he could make a go of it.'

Craig completed the NEIS course in 2001 and by early 2002 found himself exhibiting his work at the Sydney Fringe Festival. As a result his work was taken by a commercial gallery, Graphis in Woollahra, and started to sell.

Encouraged by his success, Craig entered a self portrait for the 2003 Archibald Prize which was exhibited in the Salon des Refusés. The portrait achieved considerable acclaim for its innovative style and the curator invited Craig to speak at the gallery, introducing him 'as the new kid on the block.'

For the 2004 Archibald Prize Craig was determined to paint Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, but with only a few weeks to go before the deadline, the elusive actor was proving difficult to pin down. After weeks of calling his agent and being refused, Craig was finally able to snatch a brief hour with David during rehearsals for the actor's one man play.

The two men connected, and the extraordinary portrait, a frenzy of charcoal on old colonial wallpaper, went on to win both the Archibald Prize and the People's Choice Award.

Having survived the intense glare of the media, Craig plans to join David Gulpilil in Arnhem Land to complete a series of paintings of David and his community. The encouragement he received from doing the NEIS course is still with him as he prepares to promote this next body of work.

'The hardest thing was to make the calls to the galleries, and the encouragement and support I got from NEIS really helped me. And even now, I'm thinking, right, I should be chasing galleries to exhibit the work that I do of David Gulpilil in Arnhem Land. A lot has happened in quite a short time but it's really been a great experience!'

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