Charles Criner
November 27, 1945 – September 17, 2025
Printmaker and painter. For sixty years he drew the people and places of East Texas and Houston on stone, paper and canvas.
His life
Charles Criner was born on November 27, 1945, in Athens, Texas, the eldest of eleven children. He found art early. As a boy he taught himself to draw by copying pictures from Walter Foster how-to books, and by high school people were paying him to paint for his church, his school and the trucks of the local canning company. He also found a lifelong love of fishing, first with his grandmother and sisters, and later in Galveston, which remained a favorite spot.
In 1964 he entered the art program at Texas Southern University in Houston, where Dr. John T. Biggers became his teacher and mentor. Biggers asked his students to tell true stories of family, community and the Black experience, and he introduced Criner to lithography. Some of Criner's student work appeared in the 1978 book Black Art in Houston.
After graduating he made illustrations for NASA's Apollo 11 mission. He served in the U.S. Army, ran his own graphic design business, Kevin's Art, from the early 1980s until 1992, and was art director at The Houston Post until the paper closed. He drew comic strips, including "Johnny Jones," and his Juneteenth posters became beloved in Houston.
He taught at Texas Southern University and Houston Community College, and from 1997 he was artist-in-residence at Houston's Museum of Printing History, drawing on limestone, pulling prints and teaching visitors of every age how a lithograph is made. A master of stone lithography, he made work about Southern life, memory and heritage: field workers, churchgoers, fishing trips, musicians, family. He also wrote The Children and George (2020), a children's book about growing up in Athens.
His work has been exhibited widely. He was one of 35 artists selected for the Texas State Parks Centennial Project, his work is to be featured by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and he was a devoted supporter of the Yates Museum in Houston's historic Fourth Ward.
Charles Criner passed away peacefully in Houston on September 17, 2025, surrounded by family. He was 79. He was devoted to his family, especially his sons and grandchildren. His papers are held by Texas A&M University Libraries in College Station, and his collection is cared for by his family.
His life was a canvas, rich with love, service and creativity.
His images, he said, should be cherished windows into our past and visions of our future.
Charles Criner, on his work
In his words
Charles Criner in conversation on the occasion of his 2019 retrospective, Where I Come From: The Works and Influences of Charles Criner, at the Museum of Printing History in Houston.
The work
Criner worked across media, but lithography sat at the center of his practice. He drew directly on limestone and printed small editions by hand, often producing one-of-a-kind hand-painted stone lithographs.
- Stone lithographs editions and unique prints
- Paintings acrylic and mixed media
- Drawings graphite and pastel
- Cartoons and illustration newspaper and advertising
The estate is completing a full catalogue of his work. Curators, researchers and collectors can request images and details of specific pieces.
Request imagesSelected works
Exhibitions and milestones
- 1945
Born November 27 in Athens, Texas
- 1964–68
Studies art at Texas Southern University under Dr. John T. Biggers
- 1969–70
Graphic illustrator for NASA, working on Apollo 11 drawings
- 1975
Award of Excellence, Texas Southern University
- 1978
Student works published in Black Art in Houston, Texas A&M University Press
- 1980s–92
Runs his own graphic design business, Kevin's Art
- 1997
Becomes artist-in-residence, Museum of Printing History, Houston
- 2012
Alumni Support Award, Texas Southern University
- 2017
Homecoming: The 8th Biannual Alumni Exhibition, University Museum, Texas Southern University
- 2018
Protégés: The Legacy of Dr. John Biggers, Foltz Fine Art, Houston
- 2019
Where I Come From: The Works and Influences of Charles Criner, solo exhibition, Museum of Printing History, Houston
- 2020
Publishes the children's book The Children and George
- 2022
Student/Teacher: Works by Charles Criner & Dr. John Biggers, Tyler Museum of Art
- 2023
One of 35 artists selected for the Texas State Parks Centennial Project
- 2023–24
Witness: Black Artists in Texas, Then and Now, The Grace Museum, Abilene
- 2025
Passes away in Houston on September 17, surrounded by family
For museums and collectors
Exhibition loans
Paintings, drawings and lithographs from the estate are available for loan to museums, universities and cultural institutions. We can provide condition information, images and biographical material for exhibition planning.
Ask about a loanCollecting his work
Original works and numbered lithographs are available to collectors. Each work sold by the estate comes with documentation of its authenticity. Contact us for current availability and prices.
Ask about available worksResearch and reproduction
His papers are held by Texas A&M University Libraries. For permission to reproduce an image in a publication, exhibition or product, please contact the estate before use.
Request permissionContact
For information about the artwork of Charles Criner, exhibition loans, purchases or image permissions, contact CrinerArt.
- Phone
- 713-922-4210
- crinerart@gmail.com