Meet David Kruk

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Kruk. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

I think the most important thing for me is to have multiple avenues of creativity. I often find myself bored if I’m working within a narrow scope. I like having a lot of different things that I can learn about and dive into head-first. If I’m feeling uninspired in the ceramics studio, I’ll try and work on some music instead. If I’m not feeling musically creative, I’ll learn more about 3D printing and modelling. Whatever it is, I find that each thing can inform the next, and it can sort of function as a nice cycle of creative thought. I’ll also allow myself to go down rabbit holes of research that can be inspiring as well. I love using the internet to click through link after link until I arrive in some strange, esoteric place. Independent bloggers, small YouTube channels and Discord servers–sometimes these places provide the most interesting food for thought. I’m trying to approach the internet in the same way I would explore a new town I just moved to. Wandering around, finding some hidden gems, meeting some interesting people along the way. In terms of creativity, I think the algorithm tends to be a flattening force. The content that rises to the top tries to become what the Machine wants, and in this way, things begin to become homogeneous. I’m not saying that the most-viewed thing doesn’t provide anything of creative value, but I think that those nooks and crannies of the internet can often be where the sweetest fruit grows.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am an artist, visual arts instructor at two universities, a pottery teacher and studio manager at a local community center, and an independent contractor for a local nonprofit. At school, I teach 3D Foundations and Ceramics. I enjoy the atmosphere of the academic studio because I often find myself learning along with the students. I like listening to their ideas, watching their process, and helping them push their creative energy in new and exciting ways. It is most rewarding when I can inspire a student to continue pursuing art. I’ve had several very influential teachers in the past, and I try to channel their teaching methods whenever I can because they’ve made such a huge impact on me. The environment of the community studio is drastically different, but equally enjoyable. It’s a chance for me to connect with the local community, and the participants are there to not only be creative, but to socialize, work alongside their friends, and have fun. I like floating around the studio, completing daily tasks, and making sure everything is flowing smoothly so that there is the least amount of friction between the participants and what they want to get out of the session. I love answering the questions they have while also encouraging them to experiment. In terms of a professional career, right now I am on the fence of whether or not I want to continue to pursue academia in the long run, like a tenure track position. The institution feels like it’s on shaky ground at the moment, and I’m also asking myself what are the ways in which I want to grow. I know I want to keep my artistic visions alive, and while an environment like academia seems like the most convenient way to do so, I often wonder about alternative paths that perhaps allow for a little more freedom and a little less stress. The atmosphere of the community center is appealing to me, so perhaps I’ll eventually find myself in a full-time position there. These kinds of big life decisions are always incredibly tough to make, but I have confidence I’ll find my footing–I just need to trust myself.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Practice – It’s ok to fail because failure always provides an opportunity to learn. Taking the first step is always hard, but if you keep on persisting, you will always have that knowledge in your tool belt. You can then use that knowledge and apply it to other things in life, practically or metaphorically. This allows your perspective to be constantly evolving, potentially opening up new motivations, social connections, and life paths.

Patience – Take your time. Everyone moves at different paces. Recognize your limitations and work with them. If you are patient with yourself and others, you can overcome all sorts of obstacles, both external and internal. Patience lets you look deeper into yourself and fosters empathy for others.

Vulnerability – Put yourself out there. Open up to those around you. Communicate. Be honest. Through being vulnerable, we release our spirit into the universe, we allow ourselves to be observed and bring ourselves closer to truth. Be an active participant in the cosmic dance, every piece in the kaleidoscope gets woven into the mandalic nature of reality, constantly churning, breathing, becoming.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I think it depends on what your goal is. Personally, I like to take the well-rounded approach because I think through confronting the things that take me out of my comfort zone, those areas that I already excel in may actually become stronger–I gain a broader, more complex understanding of my experience which can help inform other areas of my life. I think this approach is especially great for me creatively because it allows me to make otherwise unrealized connections between seemingly disparate things which can ultimately feed back into my work in the studio, social life, and worldview. For example, I remember when my friends invited me to go to a bouldering gym. I’m not very strong, I’m not very flexible, and I knew I wouldn’t be good at it, but I figured it could still be a fun thing to try. Even though I was struggling with most of the routes, I had an incredibly fun time and wanted to get better at it. I ended up getting a membership to the bouldering gym and would go a few times a week. Just through the act of attending, not only was I improving my climbing ability, I was able to meet people, make friends, learn about local events, and gain confidence in myself. Through getting better at climbing, I was also finding it to be a nice feedback loop within the ceramics studio. My hands wouldn’t be as tired after a whole day of making, I was finding novel ways to approach form-building, and I felt more patient with myself. Then I would bring that energy back into the climbing gym and find myself able to complete routes I was consistently struggling with. This sort of feedback loop was invigorating and injected a vitality into my life that I didn’t even know was absent. When I initially went bouldering, I wasn’t thinking about how it could help me improve in the studio. It just sort of became an unintended consequence. I think a lot of things in life are like this. We’re like bridges between the landscape of experiences, and when we’ve trekked through so much different terrain, what are the ways in which we give form to the dust from our boots?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @david.kruk