M. Craig has lived in Tucson since 1976 with her husband and daughters. She was raised in a multi-cultural Air Force family. Her African American father met her Japanese mother in post WWII Tokyo, Japan. The family lived in a variety of places, including Japan, Washington D.C., Mojave Desert, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Mills College, in Oakland California, with a degree in Fine Arts.
Throughout a 30-year career in the real estate industry, she has forged a path of community-integrated arts. She is known in Tucson real estate community for southwestern hand-painted "Mi Casa es Su Casa" (My House is Your House) tile housewarming gifts. In 1996 Tucson's Hearth Foundation (shelters for homeless women and children) selected her paintings for their fundraising card series. In 2008 M's greeting tiles were gifts to new Habitat for Humanity homeowners upon deliverance of the keys to their new dwelling.
M has taught origami workshops since 1996 to many groups in Tucson, including Canyon Ranch Resort & Spa, Tucson Children's Museum, Tucson Botanical Gardens, Pima County Public Libraries, Green Valley Recreation Centers and Tucson Medical Center's Oasis Adult Education Program.
As a member of Catalina Rotary Club's literacy and numeracy project, M distributes dictionaries and teaches the art of origami to local elementary school children.
M is the co-founder of the Tucson Origami Club, president of the Japan-America Society of Tucson and organizer of the Tucson Japanese Culture & Origami Meetup Group. Open to the public at no charge, the monthly meetings provide a delightful opportunity for inter-generational, multi-cultural hands-on origami learning experience.
A portrait artist from the 1970's, M's oil paintings were exhibited in a one-woman show at the Invisible Theatre during the production of "Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine" in 1996.
In October 2009 M's framed portrait of Rotary International 2010-11 President Elect Ray Klinginsmith was presented to him at the Oklahoma City Rotary Zone Institute.
Siamese "Kitty" was a family companion for eleven years. Her sweet memory and resilient spirit inspired the concept of the VIP Pet Portraits in 2007. Hand-painted on simple 18" Mexican roof tiles, the pet portraits are a celebration and commemoration of the lives of dear friends & family members.