growing a sustainable life
Thursday, June 18, 2009 
change and challenge is all around us these days and my life, my business, my art - is no exception. if you have been following this blog for a while, you have noticed i rarely post anymore. my attention has been elsewhere, as i grow my life in another direction.
i have big news.
last week i started graduate school at lewis & clark here in portland, oregon. they have a fantastic graduate school of education and counseling. i am enrolled in a two-year, full time program, so when i finish, i will be a licensed school counselor. it has taken months to get first to the decision to pursue grad school and then to choose this program, this direction back towards working with teens. i am thrilled with the path i am on and so excited to be intellectually stimulated again.
i learned so much in these years building my business, priceless, countless, things. i had an itch to scratch and i did it. i wouldn't have ever been able to happily settle into another job, let along career, without this time doing it my way.
one of the biggest things i learned is i don't like being my own boss, not really. i like the romantic notion, but not the daily grind. i'm not praticularly fond of any kind of daily grind, however i have become salient of the fact that all jobs have parts that i don't enjoy. my whole life making art, creating objects, was always joyful. yet for me, these past few years, making jewelry for a living became drudgery. the joy went out of the making. and the work is hard on the body, the lack of profits hard on the spirit.
at the end of last summer, i just stopped and said why? why am i doing this?
since i moved to oregon and left teaching behind in michigan, i have missed working with kids. more importantly, i have missed work that felt like it makes a real difference. more and more, making lovely objects has felt too small for me. i want to make a more significant impact. and i want to build a more sustainable life. for myself and for our culture.
a life with health benefits, the possibility of retirement, a life with better balance. growing a garden on my back patio, with cuccumber plants like the one pictured above. time for exercise, play, rest.
and the art? it's not going anywhere. i will always make art. the beauty of my new path is i get to return to what i love. making art, pure and simple. not for sale, not to please anyone, with no eye to the market, the ugliness of the profit margin. i can use this blog when and how i wish. to share without any notion of marketing my business. that marketing piece took over my life, it was utterly consuming. i spent 80% of my time marketing and maybe 20% actually doing what i love, creating.
For now, both of my online shops are still open for business. i am considering keeping the etsy shop open through the winter holiday season, but i will have to see how busy i feel when school is in full gear come september. my honey & milk site will continue, as i have inventory and plan to add one-of-kind things as the mood strikes me to make them. but i am done making the same thing twice, my friends. done.
so you might wonder about the future of this blog. i have no intention of ditching found object. i adore my blog and want to use it to share future inspirations and creations. i don't see myself posting regularly, however. so if you enjoy found object, please subscribe to the RSS feed. that way, when i do post something new, you won't miss it. i will certainly always use this blog to share images from my travels, so stay tuned.
thank-you sincerely for your support. each one of you, in your own way, helped me make my business. i wouldn't trade it for anything.
onward!
