2016 saw me produce so much beautiful work, the best I have ever done, I believe. I had wonderful clients, and the projects were inspiring, and exactly what I wanted to be working on. I was published in Better Homes and Gardens, and got incredible feedback from all over the country. My online shop sold out in a week. Unfortunately, 2016 was also the year I realized that I needed to leave Providence, a city I love. I could no longer afford to live there.
I had stayed in the lovely city of Providence after graduating from RISD fourteen years ago because it was an easy place to be an artist. Over the decade that I spent there, the city transformed. More exquisite restaurants, beautiful shops, many folks coming from Boston and New York City, many amazing write ups in national magazines. As is often the result of such positive improvements, I got priced out of my home.
This had happened to me before. After living in Manhattan for three years, I moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1995. I had a gorgeous floor-through apartment in a brownstone. By 2002, I could no longer afford to live there. Seems like all the places I move to become the next great thing, hmmm...
My parents live in Cleveland, I went to high school there. And all of a sudden, I was hearing a lot of artists talking about affordable studio space in Cleveland. I love the Cleveland Museum of Art, have heard so much about the Botanical Garden, plus the green spaces in and around the city. “Forrest City” someone called it. Cost of living compared to Providence: a third. Being near family a very very big plus.
By chance I was quickly able to find a studio with a small storefront with big east-facing windows. It needed a little bit of freshening up with paint and new lighting, and it’s just so lovely. Finding the new gleena space forced me to move during the holiday season. Oh the stress... it was all worth it. Come see for yourself, visit gleena ceramics shop at 2114 S. Taylor Rd. Cleveland Heights, from Wednesday to Friday: noon to 6pm, Saturday: noon to 5pm. It is where I make everything, so Monday through Tuesday are reserved for production.
The decision to move was very hard, the move itself was the hardest thing ever, this place where I am today, on the first day of 2017, is so good. Change is hard, but necessary. Happy Happy New Year!
