Craig Alberty, a native South Dakotan, is formally trained in music. He spent over twenty years as a university music professor, has published dozens of instrumental compositions, produced numerous recording projects for the music education market, and is an accomplished performer on saxophone.
His experience in photography is, by comparison, quite limited. He took a serious interest in the visual world seven years ago and is scrambling to educate himself and develop the requisite techniques.
His visual work has been accepted for inclusion in over 30 juried shows in 7 states. Notable are the South Dakota First Lady’s Prairie Art Exhibition, NIC Fest in Casper, WY, and the Sweet Pea Arts Festival in Bozeman, MT.
He won third place in the painting and photography category at the Gift to Mother Earth Art Show at the Crazy Horse Memorial. He is a five-time winner of the Black Hills and Badlands weekly photography contest and held a solo exhibition at Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City, SD.
As a lifelong practitioner of the arts – first in music and now through visual expression – Alberty is reluctant to explain, categorize, or rate his work. If the art is done properly the explanation is revealed in the product. He expects that every professional invests full craftmanship and artistic passion into each work. The artist will naturally like some results better than others, but that is unlikely to impact audience response.
His images depict landscapes and wildlife of western South Dakota as well as scenes of rural life. The creation of both realistic representations and abstract derivatives give him equal satisfaction. His greatest fulfillment comes from finding the interesting in the ordinary. He appreciates the privilege of living in a picturesque part of the world and is driven to use his skill and ability to share what he feels when he discovers a photographic moment.