James C. Crabb, painter and printmaker, was born in Merced, California on 28 March 1947. He received his A.A. degree in fine arts from San Jose City College, his B.A. in painting from San Jose State University in 1976 and his M.A. in printmaking the following year from the same university, studying with Geoffrey Bowman. He worked as Bowman's printroom tech during this time. He studied further with John Hunter, Will Nelson, Al Barella and Bruce Conner.

Crabb's work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including American Drawings in Black and White: 1970-1980 at the Brooklyn Museum, the Twenty-first National Print Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, as well as at the Redding Museum of Art, the San Jose Council of the Arts, the Basel Art Fair, and Georgia State University. Public collections holding Crabb's work include the Brooklyn Museum, Wichita Art Museum, Redding Art Museum, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.