Meet Megan Craig

We were lucky to catch up with Megan Craig recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.

I wouldn’t say that I’ve overcome creativity blocks – there are always new and surprising ones to face. But the main way I’ve dealt with them is by giving myself endurance exercises: make 2 drawings a day for 100 days, set a timer and try to paint through an entire block of water color paper, paint 75 tigers, write 13 paragraphs about a shoe, invent 10 mantras, mix forty colors, The key for me is to keep working. I like thinking about the rules for a new challenge and setting up a routine. I would make a good machine, because once I get going, I can work forever. I think this is related to early experiences weeding on my dad’s farm. I loved the feeling of working past boredom into another realm where I was physically performing the same, repetitive, endless task, but psychically somewhere else. I have Corita Kent’s book of art exercises and another book called The Art of the Art Assignment in my studio. Both of them have great prompts (invent a calendar; make a drawing using only your car). And then a whole shelf of writing books by Haruki Murakami, Annie Dillard, Steven King, Paul Auster…. Basically I believe in manual labor and put my trust there. When all else fails, there are books and museums and pictures to look at to remind me that it’s possible to make something.

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?

For the last nearly twenty years I have been a philosophy professor at Stony Brook University, where I teach graduate and undergraduate classes. I love teaching large intro classes to philosophy where students are encountering the texts for the first time. My academic job entails lots of research and writing, but I don’t see this as very different from the work I do in my studio as an artist (which is mostly how I identify). Historically I have been an oil painter,, but over the last ten years I’ve expanded my practice to include collaborative public works, dance, installations, sewing, and music. I’m interested in using any material that seems suited to a given project. Everything I do is grounded in writing and drawing – paper and ink. That is how I keep track of ideas and make sketches and plans for new work while I’m traveling. Recently I’ve been writing personal essays for non-academic publications like The American Scholar and The New York Times. Since 2004, I have also been the graphic designer for Firehouse 12, a music venue and recording studio owned and operated by my husband. I designed the record covers for his jazz label (Firehouse 12 Records), which was so much fun. I’ve been really lucky to have an academic job that provides stability and community while pursuing artistic projects that are necessarily precarious and open ended. I see myself as immersed in several creative worlds where I’m making new things in collaboration with compelling, talented people.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

When I think about times of setback and stress in my life, I think the three things that have helped me the most have been physical exercise, being surrounded by loving people, and willingness to change my attitude. I’ve been a runner from a young age, and running and other movement outdoors is crucial to my health and happiness. I’ve run through more problems that I could name. Supportive people have been crucial to my wellbeing and sense of feeling grounded. My people are the very best things in my life (including our dog, who also counts). I would tell anyone starting out in a creative career to find a cherish some good people who are rooting for you, work on building your relationships, and put people you love at the top of your list of priorities. A lot of time I find myself stuck in patterns of low self confidence, doubt or worry. I’ve tried to augment that by trying on different attitudes and trying to be adventurous and open to changing how I’m perceiving a situation. Often I can muster new courage just by altering the script or trying out a different emotion. It’s hard not to get stuck in your own patterns, so I try to keep alive my childhood love of play acting and make believe to help me shift myself into a new role or manifest a fresh start. I really think people can practice this by being with and around young kids or engaging in creative forms of play. Reading widely also helps, as do singing and dancing.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

It’s nearly impossible for me to isolate one book but between King Lear, Virginia Woolf’s collected writings on painting, and the collected poems of Emily Dickinson, I’ll choose the last one for the line “It was not Death, for I stood up / And all the Dead lie down – /“. Having a bit of poetry memorized has brought me through many tough moments. You can walk to Dickinson as if to a beat. I love the reminder of the simple differentiation between standing up and lying down, a difference that’s small and immense at the same time. It makes me grateful to be in the margin of life, and I walk around with that line churning like a wind at my back.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www:megancraig.com
• Instagram: @waterstreetprojects

Image Credits

Stephanie Anestis
Kyle Goldbach
Megan Craig