The end is always followed by a new beginning...
I started attending classes at the art school over twenty years ago...first in the pottery studio and then ten years ago I started the jewellery making class with the wonderful Eddy. That class was an absolute lifeline for me. Facing forty I had just walked out on a career that I thought I would do forever. I'd been a primary school teacher for nearly fifteen years. We had waited to have kids so that we could save for me to go part-time while they were young, but while they were still little I found myself working full-time (mostly 60-70 hour weeks) with no option to work part-time, and so I walked away...in hindsight, very broken.
That Autumn term when I would have been usually starting another school year, I became a student instead, starting lessons at Penzance School of Art. I had previously attended pottery evening classes over twenty years ago. My partner bought me the jewellery making course for my birthday, knowing I'd always wanted to try it, but never having had the time. Now every Wednesday I was at the School with Eddy sharing jokes, stories and smithing skills. It grounded my week, a slice of time to create and rebuild myself. Over the next two years I went from rudderless career-wise, to having an idea about where I was headed. Eddy's encouragement kept me coming back for lessons for years. So from the sad end to my primary teaching career, a new beginning appeared for me.
I started my own jewellery line, then after a couple of years a few people started asking me if I could show them how to make a ring; a pair of earrings etc. So I thought about returning to teaching...but this time not with books and whiteboard pens, but hammers and silver! This was my very first set up at my kitchen table in 2018. Since then I have constantly ploughed everything I earn from teaching jewellery making into upgrading my own skillset and into the workshop so that students have good access to tools to aid their skills progression. You can see the difference over seven years!
Those early jewellery making classes in that building helped me put myself together again and helped me build a small business that supports others with their creativity. Like everyone else that has been a student in the buildings I have made fun memories, learned new skills and most importantly made lasting human connections. Having the space to come together to create and connect is a tonic lots of us humans need. So, I am in debt to these buildings for hosting those times and now owe them my time to help them remain what they have always been, an arts hub for the community for generations to come. So while the sale of them is an end in one way, it is also a new and exciting beginning.
- Tasha