Leah Grace Craig

A figurative painter based in Atlanta, Georgia, completing a B.F.A. in Painting with a minor in Printmaking at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD, 2025). Raised amid the misty peaks of Highlands, North Carolina, where she spent much of her time immersed in the natural world, Craig absorbed the region’s atmospheric light, shifting mists, and raw wilderness—elements that continue to influence her dreams and subsequently the dreamlike landscapes, organic forms, and emotional contrasts present in her work. She developed a reverence for nature that now permeates her work with ethereal portraits of women adrift in clouds, encompased by flowers and animals that blend one another's skins, where softness and serenity veil deeper narratives of resilience, grief, and the power of the female and bodily existence.

Craig’s large-scale oil paintings balance classical technique with contemporary symbolism, inviting viewers to confront vulnerability without looking away. Her recent series “The Divine Now” premiered in 2025 at SCAD’s resurrected Fine Arts Showcase and Out to Launch event. Craig’s practice is driven by disciplined exploration of the subconscious, dream-based ideation, and an unwavering belief that beauty and darkness can coexist on the same canvas, one illuminating the other, just as calm and chaos must coexist simultaneously in nature to achieve harmony. The series explores dreams shaped by self-reflection, femininity, and transformation—surreal, tender portrayals of women in liminal spaces where grief and beauty coexist. This series will anchor her first solo exhibition later this year.

At SCAD, Craig has been a peer mentor in painting studios and worked as a printmaking shop monitor for the past three years. She regularly assists printmaking faculty on photogravure, lithography, etching, and relief projects. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on museum-quality installations and was an artist assistant to several master painters and printmakers from Georgia to California. Beyond the studio, she co-hosts Palette Chats, a podcast amplifying emerging artists’ voices. In 2024, she was awarded the Alcott Scholarship for excellence in fine art, enabling research travel to New York’s major museums and a place in a group show at Kai Lin Art. 

2024

  • August 15th: Concept Orca, ART-Fashion-Architecture, Gallery & Wine Night @Soft Loft. Group Art Exhibition with

  • July 28th: Live painting and Group Exhibition with Terminal d’Art at Lime Light Theatre.

  • March 15th: Exhibition with Artline Atlanta

  • May 30th: Live painting and Group Exhibition with Raphael Bahindwa and Terminal d’Art

  • May 25th: Allcott Student Showcase with SCAD and Kia Lin Art Gallery

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  • January 8th: Launched Palette Chats, a Podcast featuring up-and-coming artists around the world

  • January 24th: Launched clothing line “Art Store” in collaboration with podcast hosts

Work:

  • March 8th: pprentice to Niki Zarrabi, Atlanta, GA.

Shows/Exhibitions:

  • September cover feature in The Laurel Magazine, Highlands NC

  • February 23rd: ArtLien’s Show in the Battery, in collaboration with Art With Dro.

  • March 1st: Drink and Doodle ABV Gallery Guest performing artist

  • March 15th: Selected artist for the Dalia Festival in Highlands, NC. Poster art and booth rep.

Academic

  • Awarded the Alcott trip to NY during the break between the Winter and Spring Quarters of 2024.

    • “Congratulations on being selected by your Professors and Department leaders as exceptional students in your discipline and for being given this wonderful opportunity to travel to New York over Spring Break for a gallery and museum immersive experience over four days.”

  • Deans List

    • Winter 2024

    • Spring 2024

2023

Work:

  • September 16th - November 28th: Actress for The Highlands Players staring in Parallel Lives.

  • March 27th: Visual Arts Judge for Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School’s MADFest Art Completion.

Shows/Exhibitions:

  • Live Painting and auction with ABV Gallery. November 29th

  • Live Painting with Terminal D’Art. September 17th, 2023

  • Festival Horse, Chosen for exhibition and to compete in SCAD’s ‘Drawing Works,’ Savannah, GA.

  • SCAD’s Beyond the Dot Foundations Art Competition 2023

Awards/Honors:

  • SCAD’s Beyond the Dot Foundations Art Competition 2023

  • Winner of the Highlands Dalia Garden Poster Contest 2023

  • 2nd place in SCAD’s Beyond the Dot Competition 2022

Academic:

  • Head of media and advertising for SCAD Atlanta Illustration Club 2022-2023

  • Deans List: 3.98 GPA

    • Winter 2023

    • Spring 2023

2022

Work

  • Designer for The Ugly Dog Public House

Awards/Honors:

  • 2nd place in the 2022 Beyond the Dot Foundations Art Competition, Savannah College of Art and Design.

Academic Awards:

  • Deans List with 3.96GPA

    • Winter 2022

    • Spring 2022

    • Summer 2022

    • Fall 2022

2021

Work:

  • Food runner and busser 2013-1019

  • Server at The Ugly Dog Public House 2019-2021

  • Bartender and Barback 2021-2023

  • Designer for The Ugly Dog Public House 2020-current day