Back To Where It All Began
Hello!
So where have I been for nearly 3 years? If you follow along on Instagram, you may know some of this story already, but I'm going to take a moment to fill in the gaps.
I closed my big beautiful studio in Boulder, CO back in December of 2019. My first son, Ellis, was just 3 months old at the time. I quickly found that I would not be able to maintain my pace of work and balance motherhood at the same time. Something had to give. I decided to trade my studio and the 50+ hr work weeks for shorter days and work out of a local community studio. At that time I intended to stay home with my baby for 3 more months, and then start working on a part-time basis in March of 2020.
Well... COVID.
Need I say more?
My 6 month baby-stay-cation turned into a 2.5 year hibernation. While COVID-19 ravaged families and communities, and the world thrashed over civil-rights issues and political upheaval, my head was down and focused on my child and getting by day-to-day in our unrelenting quarantine.
Oh, and I was pregnant again. That's right, we decided that as long as we were hunkered down, now would be a good time to complete our vision for our family.
Wren arrived in December of 2020. Christmas Eve to be exact. Covid was still very much a confining and defining issue in all our lives at that time. With babies at home and the world still mostly shuttered, my partner and I decided that we needed to make a major shift in our lives to have the future we wanted. And, as odd as it sounds, the timing felt right. When Wren was 2 months old, in the middle of the pandemic, we packed our life into boxes. We loaded a moving truck in a blizzard (with the help of remarkable friends), and moved from Colorado to our home state of Michigan. Our family and friends were waiting for us with open arms.
Nine years earlier, when we left Michigan, I didn't think we'd ever move back. But I also didn't think I'd ever want children. Life is funny and unpredictable in the most mysteriously beautiful way sometimes.
As the spring of 2021 was blooming in Michigan, our new life seemed to blossom right along with the changing of the seasons.
It took a while for us to find a home, and it turned out that the home we found was one we have known for a very long time. We are blessed to now call Brian's childhood home, our home. The place he grew up is the exact same place our boys are growing each day.
A year has now passed since this house became our home, and it has been a constant work in progress since the day we took possession. Nights and weekends have been perforated with hammers and paint brushes, drywall and drawer pulls. We have busied ourselves with honoring the family history of this place, while working to put our own stamp on the spaces inside and out.
Here I sit, typing from our newly finished basement. My little studio is nestled in the back and an office/shipping space sits at the front. What is now my studio is the space where Brian's dad once had a small workshop. Brian learned about building and fixing in the exact space that I now throw pots, and roll slabs. My kiln sits where the work bench was, and my wheel is where the lathe was. It looks very different now: new bright lights, sealed concrete floor, freshly painted walls. But the heart of it is the same. Every morning when I switch on the lights, I feel the energy and the love in this space.
I'm going to sign off from here. Later, I'll tell you about my process and the work I'm making, but for now, you know where we are and how we got here.
Thank you for following along.
Thank you to those who have been rooting for me, my work, and my little family from the beginning.
And thank you to those who are new to this space and my work. With all the content there is to digest out there, if you have carved out a moment in your busy life for me and my work, I offer you my deepest gratitude.
Cheers,
Alyssa
