route99west @ Other Sites

Alexander Craghead is a writer, photographer, and watercolorist. A former journalist specializing in transportation topics, he has over fourty bylines in regional and national publications. He is actively engaged in his local community, and currently works as a community affairs professional in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.


Artist's Statement:

Regardless of the artistic method, transportation has never been far from my endeavors. The shape of our world, of our history, and our future are all inexorably connected to our transportation networks. Its velocity, presence, or absence crafts our sense of place, ties us together or divides us. It is the medium through which culture and life flows. This interplay of transportation and culture is forefront in my work.

My photographic philosophy has been influenced most by Walker Evans, David Plowden, and Jeff Brouws. From them I have gleaned my intense ethical attachment to reality, a passion for black-and-white, and strong anthropological and geographic sensibilities. Other influences include railroad photographers Richard Steinheimer and Naotaka Hirota, as well as the thoughtful and impassioned perspectives of Martin Burwash.

When it turns to the painting, I have a very particular approach. I tend to shun the translucence typical of watercolor and instead embrace a thick, vibrant approach. While I am an admirer of Edward Hopper, I am equally influenced by Japanese wood block artists of the Shin hanga movement such as Kawase Hasui, as well as by the artistic honesty of Impressionism. My goal is to create paintings that simultaneously feel real and yet also distinctively "painted". Like my photography, the subject of my paintings tends to be regional, retrospective, and linked to the physical and cultural impacts of transportation.

It is far more difficult to trace the development path of my writing. Everything that we read influences us, and it would be far too cumbersome to attempt to list my reading habits here. Instead, if I had to list the qualities I would most like to borrow, they would be the stylistic freedom of Tom Wolfe, the regional voice of Stewart Holbrook, and the humor of Twain -- all of whom, it should be noted, were journalists. Story telling -- even fiction -- is about understanding the world around us, as good journalism is.


Selected Bibliography:
"MAX at night," (photo essay). (Co-authored with Dan Haneckow). TRAINS Magazine,
             May 2007, 58-63.
"The Grande Dame," (photo essay). TRAINS Magazine, November 2005, 50-57.
"The Rookie Year," (includes painting and photos). TRAINS Magazine, August 2005, 62-64.
"NeoBohemia on the No. 12 Bus," Mimeograph.org, June 2003.
"Backcountry Baker: Rumble Gully is a great ride, and sometimes it's the last,"
             Active! Northwest Magazine, November/December 2000, 30-35.

Education:
Bachelors of Arts in Communication, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon,
             2010 (expected).
Certificate in Conflict Resolution and Mediation, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon,
             2010 (expected).