Robert Rogers Craner (1929-2015) was born in New York City. He studied painting at The Art Students League of New York and Columbia University, earning a master’s at The City College University of New York and a master’s in fine arts at University of California Santa Barbara. He was a life member of the Art Students League. Craner’s paintings, pastels, drawings and fashion illustrations have been exhibited at Tiffany & Company and Cerberus Gallery in New York, University of Hawaii, City College of San Francisco, and many other venues. His interest in theatre led him to perform as an actor and singer on Broadway, at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Off-Broadway and Summer Stock.
Craner also taught painting and drawing at The Art Students League of New York, Parsons School of Design, The School of Visual Arts New York, Pratt Institute, University of Hawaii, and several other universities. He was an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and MacDowell.
