Or…The Origin Story

Or…The Story of Crafting a Business from My Creative Passion

My art discovery happened in high school in Long Island, NY.  The summer after my freshman year I took an art class at the local Waldorf School and fell in love.  From then on  I was the kid cutting class to hang out in the art room, which my high school art teachers seemed to support.  They never turned me in any way!

At the time I wasn’t very sure what kind of artist I was, and it felt like there were so many possibilities with printmaking that I could do anything. I particularly enjoyed the process of mastering the tools and materials involved.

I gradually worked my way up to become a Designer. Initially, I believed this was my calling, so I pursued a degree in jewelry design at FIT in NYC. This opened doors for me to work with well-known brands like Betsey Johnson and Kenneth Cole. However, I soon realized that the fashion industry didn't align with my values. While I enjoyed the design work, the overall environment was unsupportive and demanding, making me unhappy.

After completing the intense one-year program, I began teaching art at PS 317, The Waterside Children’s Studio School in Rockaway Park, Queens. Once I discovered the philosophy of Teaching for Artistic Behavior, teaching art to students in PreK-5th grade became a truly fulfilling experience. In 2015, my family relocated from Brooklyn to Westchester, and I began teaching elementary art in the Bedford Central School District. Working with kids to make art is such a  wonderful experience. I loved getting to know each child as an artist and watching them grow in their confidence and abilities.  The one thing that was missing for most of my teaching career was my own art practice.  

In 2019, during my recovery from arm and wrist surgery, I came to understand that my decade-long career as an art teacher in New York public schools, coupled with raising two elementary school-aged children, had left me completely burnt out. I desperately needed a change. I needed to change something. So I decided to leave teaching and focus on making, showing, and selling my own art.

Refocusing on my own artwork made me realize that since graduating from RISD in 2001, I had either been designing for others or teaching art. The past few years, marked by self-reflection, were further shaped by my recovery from two surgeries and caring for my children during and after the pandemic. I had to relearn the art-making process, which had been a challenge, yet incredibly rewarding.

My journey back to my art over the past few years has been nothing short of amazing. It began with playful mark-making and experimentation with watercolors during my recovery, as I slowly regained movement and strength in my wrists. Later, I engaged in collage challenges with various online communities such as the Paris Collage Collective and Februllage. Using prompts to kickstart my creative process proved invaluable, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

Creativity, I discovered, is like a muscle; it requires warming up, especially if it has been dormant or is being used in a new way. After several weeks of working with prompts, I gradually transitioned to exploring my own ideas, leading to the creation of smaller collections and eventually larger ones.

Now, I am fully immersed in my art practice, and I couldn't be happier.