moving on up
Hey everyone!
Hashimoto Nursery Meet & Greet
I’ve been a minute since my last blog post! Here is a super quick highlight reel of the last couple months. As many of you know, I had an emergency appendectomy in April that took a full 4-5 weeks for me to feel 100% myself again. Luckily I had taken all my pottery in to get fired before the surgery because I had quite a few events in May! I was a vendor in a virtual market hosted by Craft & Work + SF Etsy, did an in person pop up at Love Coffee Bar on Mother’s Day, worked with Hashimoto Nursery on a wholesale planter order, and participated in my first art show, Wonder Pets at Leanna Lin’s Wonderland! Despite the surgery, I made over 60 pieces of pottery in those two months!
You might have also noticed that I have been quiet and absent the past few weeks, particularly on social media, because I have some big news to share with you all! Before I tell you the news, I’d like to share a little of my backstory with you.
I lived here before moving to LA! One of the most beautiful places in the world.
I first moved to Los Angeles in January of 2016. I had recently finished my last season of teaching outdoor education on Catalina Island at the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) Toyon Bay, arguably one of the best and most incredible jobs that I have ever had. How could I be leaving a place where I got to snorkel and play in the ocean and take kids exploring everyday to live in LA?! I was super nervous to move to Southern California and live solo but felt comforted knowing I was still close to many of my friends on the island and had a few friends in the city as well. I chose LA because I had a lot of great connections with schools from working at CIMI and thought that I wanted to be a classroom science teacher at the time. I spent the next three years working at various private schools in Los Angeles, although I spent most of this time at The John Thomas Dye School, and even got my Masters in Education and Secondary Science Teaching Credential at Loyola Marymount University while working full time.
One of the first bowls I ever made!
I loved working with kids, and still do, but something about going into a career of classroom teaching didn’t feel quite right. As my graduation approached, I was feeling more anxious and not excited about applying to teaching jobs, a huge red flag to me. I did not want to be a teacher that wasn’t fully present for their students. As fall was rapidly approaching, I wasn’t sure what to do until I got asked to teach at the pottery studio I was a member at. I had taken up pottery during grad school in 2019 on a whim as a way to destress and make time for doing something creative on a weekly basis. After a lot of thinking and tears, I decided to be brave and try out a more creative career path. I felt like all of my experiences and time were going to waste by trying to make a career in pottery but I now know that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Teaching my CIMI friends pottery.
I still teach, and although it looks different, I still love it! Teaching pottery is all the things that I love about working with others. It’s messy, challenging, and keeps me on my toes. This change has also allowed me to fiercely believe in myself and follow my passion in art, which I admit I always wanted to do but did not know how to. Being able to create and share my artwork with you is amazing. I truly believe I would not have gone down this path had I not fully invested my time and energy into being a teacher. I would have always wondered, “What if…” I used to think my job at CIMI was the best but I am now realizing that my current path is pretty great too.
So why all this rambling to get to the big news?!
Our new spot in San Mateo.
I never thought that I would learn to love living in LA but look at the opportunities I have had during my time here. I am going to miss it more than I ever thought I would. My fiancé and I will be moving up to the Bay Area this weekend and I have flip-flopped between excitement and tears every few hours. We had been wanting to move for a while and the timing finally felt right. I also wanted to be closer to my family again and am so excited that our new place in San Mateo is only 20 minutes from my sister and about an hour to my parents.
My own studio space in our new place!
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, pottery, saying “see you later”, eating way too much and soaking in our last days to explore while living here. It is why I have not been as present with my business but know that I have been working furiously behind the scenes to make as much pottery as possible for my shop update at the end of June! (Date will be announced soon.) I’ve been listening to your feedback and there will be a lot of fun pieces and even some new experiments available! I have also found a place that will fire my pottery while I look around for a new studio! I’m so happy that I will not have to take an extended break, although I will miss my studio mates at Member’s Only LA dearly. Thank you to everyone in LA who has helped me over the years and to the new friends I’ve recently met along the way. We plan on visiting LA often and I hope to continue to have events down here as well! It’s been a fun place to spend most of my 20’s and I’m excited to explore and live in a new place in my 30’s!
With love, Michelle
