Resume

R. L. Croft

703-369-3273 croft58 at gmail dot com Manassas, VA 20110

Education

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, BFA-Honors, Painting and Printmaking, 1980.

Personal

Born in North Carolina. Childhood through adolescence lived in small southern Virginia town. As a youth, obtained summer employment in construction, retail and factory work. After graduation from college, moved to Northern Virginia and worked concrete form carpentry on the Route 66/Orange Line construction project. Began variety of jobs in technical illustration, production art, graphic design and art direction. From 1980 to1992 constituted a studio period of abstention in which self-promotion, competitions and exhibitions were avoided. Several years of false starts and frustration with how to approach pictures resulted in a transition from oil-on-canvas to wall-hung works with sculptural elements, and finally to sculpture, always with the intention of a return to painting.

Exhibition history
  • 2007
    • Maryland Art Place - Solo exhibition, Baltimore, MD.
    • The Delaplaine - “Is Three the Square Root of Nine,” 3-artist proposal, Frederick, MD.
    • The WHOLE gallery - “All That Remains,” group exhibition, Baltimore, MD.
    • WWP Gallery - “9x10 WPA/C Member Shows,” Washington, DC.
    • Gudelsky Gallery - “Abandoned still life,” a solo show of sculpture and drawing, School of Art + Design at Montgomery College, Silver Spring, MD.
  • 2006
    • Artspace Gallery - “Is Three the Square Root of Nine” 3-artist proposal, Richmond, VA.
    • Arlington Arts Center - “Déjá Vu” exhibition of previous AAC exhibitors, Arlington, VA.
    • Courthouse Galleries - Juried exhibition of outdoor sculptures, Portsmouth, VA.
  • 2005
    • BlackRock Center for the Arts - Two-artist show including beach sculptures, Germantown, MD.
    • Impromptu - Balcony constructed with Ken Huston and Andy Charneco at Oregon Inlet. Running dog, Shorebird, and Stack completed at Corolla during visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
  • 2004
    • BlackRock Center for the Arts - Solo show of sculpture and drawing, Germantown, MD.
    • Impromptu - Three Shipwrecks and one Shorebird completed at Oregon Inlet and Kill Devil Hills respectively during visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
  • 2003
    • Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art - Solo show of beach sculptures, Greensboro, NC.
    • Center for the Arts (Candy Factory) - Juried show, Manassas, VA.
    • Touchstone Gallery - Exhibit of non-member guest artists, Washington, DC.
  • 2002
    • Rockville Arts Place - Two-artist show, Rockville, MD.
  • 2001
    • Greenbelt Community Center - “Homages to Kafka and Kertesz,” solo sculpture show, Greenbelt, MD.
    • Touchstone Gallery - Exhibit of non-member guest artists, Washington, DC.
  • 2000
    • Signal 66 Art Space - Two-artist show, Washington, DC.
    • “Sculpture Now 2000 – Apocalypse?” - Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC. (Withdrew prior to exhibition due to unexplained censorship of four WSG members.)
  • 1997
    • The Art Museum of the Americas - “Landscapes: An Exhibition of Sculpture,” Washington, DC.
    • School 33 Art Center - Spring juried exhibition, Baltimore, MD.
  • 1996
    • Arlington Arts Center - “Spring Solos,” Arlington, VA.
  • 1995
    • Greater Reston Arts Center - Annual juried exhibition, Reston, VA.
    • Arlington Arts Center - Annual juried exhibition, Arlington, VA.
  • 1994
    • Clark & Co. - “Flower Power,” Washington, DC.
  • 1993
    • Greater Reston Arts Center - Annual juried exhibition, Reston, VA.
  • 1992
    • Arlington Arts Center - “Collateral Damage-The Unseen Cost of Gun Violence,” Arlington, VA.
    • Foundry Gallery - “12 x 12” show, Washington, DC.
  • 1980-92
    • No exhibitions or competitions entered.
Curatorial

Conceived and organized “Is Three The Square Root Of Nine,” an installation of sound art by Andy Charneco, with sculptures by R. L. Croft and Ken Huston. Mr. Charneco’s compositions are based entirely upon recorded sounds taken from the two artists’ sculptures. This material is then meticulously altered and arranged on his studio equipment. The resulting composition is intended to be an independent artwork commanding equal presence among objects, one that forms a keystone between three similar methodologies yielding dissimilar products.

Concurrent activities

Builder of impromptu sculpture-in-the-wild. Long-range ambition includes directing a short film set in the Duchamp gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art titled Seed (Philadelphia) © 2000, involving Etant donné: 1. la chute d’eau 2. le gaz d’éclairage.

Bibliography
  • Artworld Digest, Seed Issue, 2007.
  • Wallace Putnam - Paintings by Francis M. Naumann, published by Abrams in 2002. A letter to the author and one phone conversation are credited in the monograph.
Reviews
  • City Paper Online, Giving the Finger, by Bret McCabe, December 19, 2007. (link)
  • Frederick News Post, Is Three The Square Root of Nine? Three-man exhibit explores sculpture, in both sound and material form, by Lauren LaRocca, November 1, 2007. (link)
  • City Paper Online, Multi Reuse, by Bret McCabe, October 17, 2007. (link)
  • Montgomery County Gazette, “Relics” by R. L. Croft Reworks The Past At BlackRock by Claudia Rousseau, September 1, 2004.
  • Winston-Salem Journal, Hitting Nothing But Air by Tom Patterson, July 27, 2003.
  • Winston-Salem Journal, Souvenirs Turned Into Sculptures by Tom Patterson, June 29, 2003.
  • The Washington Post, Caution: Controversy Ahead by Michael O’Sullivan, April 7, 2000.
  • Baltimore Alternative, Pure Myth by Jennifer Michalski, June 1997.
  • The Baltimore Sun, School 33 Artists Draw On Myth And Social Issues by John Dorsey, May 22, 1997.
  • The Washington Post, A Sculptor’s Creative Revenge by Eric Brace, March 25, 1996.
  • The Washington Post, In Search Of The Soul Of Suburbia by Mary McCoy August 29, 1992.