Charles Criner was born in the small East Texas town of Athens in 1945. He studied art at Texas Southern University under the guidance of the late Dr. John Biggers. Criner worked for NASA producing drawings for Apollo 11, as Advertising Director at the Houston Post and in advertising art at the Houston Chronicle. He is the Artist-in-Residence at the Museum of Printing History where he operates a studio and leads stone lithography workshops using the museum's 1830's starwheel oak press. Criner's work is included in numerous public and private collections and is displayed in galleries across the country.