HERRON: What do you like most about working in the print lab?

CRAIG: My favorite aspect of my job is teaching students, particularly in the printmaking lab. I've observed a great deal of fear and anxiety when it comes to learning, which requires taking risks and managing expectations, especially in the past few years. A large part of my teaching involves helping students to be brave and showing them that successful learning comes with disappointment.

I see myself as a problem-solving facilitator, and with a process-oriented practice like printmaking, successful problem solving can be as gratifying as the final product. I hope to create a lab environment in which everyone can find joy in making and discovery, and the students provide me with day-to-day challenges that keep me on my toes and always learning. I truly enjoy the exchange of learning that takes place daily in the printmaking lab and consider myself very fortunate to work with such curious and interesting students.

HERRON: When you're not at Herron, where can we find you?

CRAIG: Before returning to Indianapolis to attend graduate school at Herron, I worked as raft guide and snowboard instructor in Taos, New Mexico. Being active and exploring the "great outdoors" has always been an important part of my mental health as well as my artistic practice, and finding a balance has been difficult since starting at Herron. I do my best to kayak, camp, and ride my mountain bike whenever possible.

My mother refers to these weekend outdoor adventures as "playing," but I see them as an intrinsic element of my well-being. Hurling myself down a mountain on a bike really helps me put things in perspective, and I enjoy separating the adrenaline and fear found in physical pursuits from the fear, anxiety, and doubt that come from being a member of society and especially an artist.

Being an artist often entails living in a world of deep introspection, which can be a very frightening place; one must be brave to be an artist.