My girlfriend Sarah started doing ceramics and pottery with her mother in elementary school.
Her mom was a hobbyist sculptor and had a pottery wheel and a kiln.
Working with clay was one way for the two of them to spend time together and bond, plus it was fun for Sarah. She ended up taking art classes in high school and college and is now a professional artist. After working in special effects in Hollywood for a couple of years, she moved back to her hometown to be closer to her family and be a private artist selling to galleries around the state. That’s how I met her—I was interviewing her for a story in the arts section of the local newspaper. We immediately hit it off and I asked her after the story was published if she would accompany me to a coffee shop some night just to chat and get to know each other. Now it has been two years and we’re looking to move in together. My focus was to find a place suitable for Sarah’s ceramics and pottery equipment, but we were forced to rent an apartment when all of the vacant homes and townhouses ended up being too expensive for our combined budget. I told her that we could do the apartment temporarily while we look for a proper house; meanwhile, Sarah is looking to rent an artisan loft for at least a year to house her equipment. I’m helping her look while reassuring her that we’ll find a suitable space no matter how long it takes. I’m immensely proud of her and her success, I just wish that we had the means to build a space for her from scratch.