A week of beginnings and endings

“One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it.”
~Albert Camus

Hello Dear Friends, 

Sitting here in my home studio, I survey the evidence of both beginnings and endings. And everything in between. I've just begun filming my newest workshop, Nushu: The Secret Language of Women, and ideas, as they tend to do when I teach, are piling up in my head, and all over the floor. At the same time, I've been hard at work over the past few weeks, packing up my big studio in Wisconsin in anticipation of closing it.

Suddenly the time is here. This is the week the movers are scheduled and I'll be closing the doors on that beloved space for the very last time. 

Five years that space has served me. With it came liberal freedom to say yes to accepting many collections of other peoples castoffs as potential materials for endless creative projects to come. Much of it was put to good use, but in the end, I've had a heck of a mountain of things "with potential" to sort through and distribute.

As the time to turn in my keys draws near, I've been giving away more and more items that I thought I would never part with. Selecting to bring home, only items I have a solid plan and the space for.

While some of what I've passed on had financial or sentimental value, most of it were those things that only we artists can see the potential of. And so with gratitude, I've passed these things along, knowing that their new owners-fellow artists and creatives, see their worth, where "normal people" might scratch their heads at the hoarding of other people's trash. 

The closing of this space represents so much more to me than a studio. It is the end of a long time dream of opening a physical co-working studio space, what I thought the next step on my journey as an artist would be.

With the advent of the pandemic and the forced time of solitude working from home, I've learned more about myself than I could have ever imagined. My word last year was "listen" and reflecting on this, I can see how necessary it was for me to have this transitional season in order to really listen to what my heart and body need. 

This year, my word is Deeper. Selected first, not to name my yearlong workshop, but as a reminder to myself to continue to dig in and listen. Already I'm seeing the value of selecting this word, as it seems to pop up and remind me to trust my own voice, the one that has been buried so deep inside that it is easy to drown it with the anxieties of everyday life.  

And so, it will be a bittersweet day Wednesday when the movers arrive. I will miss the resident artists who have become dear friends. I will grieve the loss of what once was. And I will eagerly look forward to what will be. 

This week is full of beginnings and endings.

With love and gratitude,

Crystal Marie