by ELLA GOEDEMANS and CADY MAAS
For the past 10 years, Meagan Segal, a Chadwick alum turned ceramics and graphic design teacher, has been sharing her passion for art with students. The story of her art career, however, started long before.
“I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing or folding paper and building things with cardboard boxes,” Segal says. “I think from a very, very young age, that was kind of my favorite pastime, my favorite thing to do.
“Even in things like playing with Barbies, I would make little houses and furniture for them out of whatever was laying around. I would alter their clothing and their hair or just anything that I could sort of customize and make it my own.”
After graduating from Chadwick, Segal attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she decided she wanted to pursue a career in art.
“It was hard being in an environment that was so different from what I knew,” said Segal, who grew up in Long Beach. “But it was absolutely amazing to be in a space with other artists. It just felt so great to be around people who had the same passion that I do. We could share ideas and work together and support one another.”
As she pursues her artistic interests professionally today, Segal noted her all-encompassing journey: “Being an artist makes you a strong observer and absorber of what is around you, whether it’s an environment or people or sound or sights … whatever that is. I feel like everywhere I go, I look at things in terms of creating art, and how I might paint something or a little detail that catches my eye that I want to translate into something.”
After working with Chadwick students for a decade, Segal reflected on her career path.
“I didn’t set out thinking I was going to be a teacher,” Segal said. “But I started teaching over the summer for the Chadwick Arts Unlimited program, about a year after I finished college. I ended up loving it. I didn’t know at the time how much joy I would get out of sharing the thing I love the most with students who I also love.”
Since she began teaching, Segal hasn’t looked back. As chair of the Visual Arts Department, Segal couldn’t be happier sharing her passion for art with students on a daily basis.
Speaking about her goals as a teacher, Segal said, “I want students to feel comfortable expressing themselves. My main goal is that students feel safe to be creative. I want them to figure out what their personal visual aesthetic is, figure out what they have to say with their work, and be able to say it.”
Noah Matsunaga, one of Segal’s dedicated Ceramics students, agrees wholeheartedly. “Ms. Segal is one of the most supportive and fun-loving teachers you could have,” he states. “She’s an experienced artist who gives great advice on the ceramic process while allowing me to pursue my own artistic vision fully. I definitely idolize Ms. Segal as an artist.”
In recent years, Segal has continued to develop her artistic career with a new shift. “I’m really fascinated by how we as humans form relationships with objects, particularly giving meaning to objects, and if they carry a memory or a reminder of a person. That eventually shifted into me, really focusing on loss and memorialization.”
This shift has given Segal a lot of new inspiration, leading her to create new art of her own.
“Lately, I’ve been making a lot of Earth-type shapes and gravestones and that kind of symbolism, the things that we do to honor the people who are no longer here … or the times or moments that have passed,” she said.
Segal’s passion for art has inspired student minds to follow the same path. Her ideas have created an atmosphere of creativity and support. For aspiring artists today and any others, Segal offers these words of wisdom, “Keep making stuff. Whether it is cooking, taking pictures and videos with your phone, drawing or altering recycled clothing or furniture … whatever it is.
“If you are continually keeping busy, you’re exercising that part of your mind and using your hands, and you’re going to find fulfillment and satisfaction.”
The Mainsheet 