Alice's Owl is my shop on Etsy. I am an artisan.
It has taken me a long time to be able to say those two sentences.
I created Alice's Owl as an outlet for my creative hobbies. After years of imaginative play, crafting, making art, and the practice of living creatively it was more than evident that "this" is what made me truly happy as a person. To be creative and produce creativity had become a way of life for me. More than that, both passing those pieces of creative art and handcrafted work onto those around me as well as spreading the gift of creative and expressive artistic experience had become a form of healing for me. Eventually, I was creating more than I could reasonably give away. In addition, many of those around me had been asking on and off for years if I had considered selling my work. In time, Alice's Owl grew out of me, like the birch and the oak grow out of the earth-- naturally.
For most of that time I did not identify as an artisan, an artist, or a crafter. I was simply someone who was doing something. I was someone who was making something. If others identified my work as artistic, or beautiful, or subversive-- it was all the same to me. It was not the end product that was as much the concern for me, as it was the process getting there. It was the creative endeavor, and the emotional and spiritual journey that I was on each time that I valued. The only thing that has changed today is that I have learned to accept the label of artisan. I, the one who produce the art and the craft-- am thereby the artisan. The focus and the journey are still the same.
People sometimes ask me how an artist can be assured their work will turn out well if they aren't concerned with the product as they are working. The answer is simple-- they can't be. If I was thinking about my result the entire time I was working, there would be no room for evolution of my work, no room for progress, and no room for my creativity. They also ask me then how everything turns out so wonderful. I laugh. Everyone is human, which means that no one is perfect. In all of my experiences as an artist there are many lessons learned, and certainly not every piece of work that I create meets the public eye. Every piece of work brings me joy, a connection with myself, and the emotional and spiritual journey I was hoping for. Often times, one piece also often inspires another, or an entirely new idea. The point in being creative is not to end up with masterpieces... it is to exercise my imagination and if I end up with masterpieces, that is an extra special surprise.
People also ask me a lot about my education and experiences learning to be an artist. Simultaneously they usually inform me that they are not creative. All people are creative. Creativity has many forms. If there is one thing I love it is teaching individuals how they are creative in their own life. If there is a second thing I love, it is teaching people that they can be creative in the way that they think they can't be when they say this to me (usually artistically).
As for my education and experiences, I have various formal, semi-formal and informal experiences learning my craft (used broadly here) over the past three decades. This includes formal university courses, community courses, a variety of professional workshops, summers teaching and working as an arts and crafts specialist and director at a summer camp, growing up in a family that fostered creativity and with a mother and grandmother who taught me many crafts, and incessantly learning skills on my own throughout my younger adulthood as well. This culmination of experiences combined with life experiences in general, are brought together during creatively combustive experiences and the results are (usually) handcrafted goods. After the past (nearly) three decades of these processes, it was no longer possible to keep simply gifting these wonderful art pieces and handmade goods to my family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Even their houses, bodies, walls, kitchens, (everything and everyplace) else were becoming too well adorned! Thus, (with some creative inspiration and support of a close friend) Alice's Owl was birthed.
Alice's Owl is best thought of as an eclectic boutique of handcrafted goods and arts which includes gifts for people, items to adorn their bodies, beautiful and whimsical decorations to enchant both the interior and exterior of their homes, and creative and artistic pieces to awaken, love, and heal their souls. From as young as I can remember I went to arts and craft fairs with my grandmother and I dreamed of being one of those people behind a booth. When I was very young my Uncle opened a very successful Art gallery and Framing shop in a nearby city and I always aspired to be a successful artist like those I saw there. Those dreams changed shape and occasionally shifted in terms of how I wanted to go about being creatively professional, but they were always alive and well within the deep recesses of my being. Today--
Alice's Owl is a reality. I am a small business owner-- Indiepreneur. I am an artisan.
