Goodbye to Brooklyn!
If all went according to plan in August of 2020 we would have celebrated our Brooklyn studio’s 3 year anniversary. Like many things in life, we were moved off course and are now on a different path. As I watched the progression of Covid-19 and how the government decided to handle things I remained relatively quiet. Each day held a new fact or restriction and the only way to describe it was like riding a rollercoaster (though, I’ve never actually ridden one and don’t intend to). As a small business owner and semi control freak, I had never expected to be confronted with such a scary and ominous situation like a pandemic.
Like many I didn’t believe Covid-19 to be more than a slightly crazier flu, until that is in mid March when NYC started its quarantine and as a result so did our studio. After some research we allowed for limited access to the space but even with this offering the studio sat pretty much empty - we were all scared. Things were changing so quickly and our daily plan soon became an hourly one with no actual end date in sight. As I crunched the numbers, applied for disaster relief (very little has been received) and spent hours in bed with swollen eyes from crying, I came face to face with the hard truth - I could no longer handle the financial, emotional or physical responsibility of running this space, especially when I lived 2 hours away. So, I decided after all my journaling that it was time to end our Brooklyn chapter.
Now, before we get into that, let’s rewind for a second with a little history lesson. This studio didn’t start as a business - it started as a safe place for my craft. Though, I don’t typically speak publicly about my personal history, I feel as our Brooklyn chapter comes to close I should be a little more candid about how it began. In 2017, I was barely crawling my way out of a very traumatic event. It was an event followed by incidences that shattered a lot of friendships, put me in a deep depression and fractured the way I viewed myself. My once home was no longer a safe place so I decided to move with my partner to a new apartment, which eventually brought me to this studio which was located right below. The studio which was intended solely for my craft, organically grew into a community space - first hosting friends, then classes and then providing memberships. It became for some a second home, therapy, a new career, an adventure, etc. And to be honest even though it took me some time to see it, the studio did all those things and more for me. It allowed me to start healing, made me a small business owner, made me a student, taught me boundaries and how to trust myself and others, taught me how to be patient and humble, and to accept all the things I can’t control.
In mid 2019 I set off on another adventure with my partner to Mountaindale, NY located in the lower Catskills to work on the next chapter of our dream. With that move I left the Brooklyn studio in the hands of others and took a step back. In retrospect these months away felt like a slow move away from the person trapped in a cycle of triggers stemming from trauma. As I walk in the woods I feel like my true self (not my old self as I don’t want to be and honestly can never be that person again). I am excited for my new studio to open and to provide a new space for learning, growing and experiencing pottery. Realizing things like this made the decision to close my Brooklyn chapter incredibly easy. Now, closing the studio to the community of folks who loved that space, that was a very difficult and sad one. In the end though, I may be closing my chapter but this Brooklyn studio, like me was saved by its members. It will live on under a new name (Centerpoint Ceramics Studio) and manager.
So as we all find our new paths, I want to thank the Universe for bringing this space to me when I needed it the most and allowing for it to grow with such beauty. Thank you to every person who passed through the studio for classes, open studio, a visit and to every member who added their flare & love to this community. Thank you to the folks who taught and teched at the studio (Alexis, Mathilde, Liam, Ellen, Jen).
Most of all - Thank you to my partner, my family, and my dear friends for being my support system. Off to Mountaindale we go!
