June Love Letter: The Unexpected Detour

How a biology degree led me somewhere completely different.

When I graduated from college in 2008 with a BA in Biology and Community Health, I was pretty sure I'd finish my pre-med requirements and apply to medical school. I got a full-time job in a kidney research lab and took organic chemistry to wrap things up.

After that class, I realized I really didn't want to go to medical school.

Suddenly I had all this free time—no class twice a week after work, no lab on weekends. I didn't quite know what to do with myself. So I signed up for a jewelry class at Brookline Arts Center.

For the first time in a long while, I felt genuinely excited about what came next.

I had beaded as a kid and always tinkered with making things, but I'd never learned metalsmithing or soldering.

I was immediately hooked. The class met once a week for three hours, and for the rest of the week I couldn't sleep — just lying there thinking about everything I wanted to make and wishing I had more time in the studio.

The Call That Changed Everything

My teacher at the time, Leslie Shershow, told me about craft schools — and mentioned that many of them have work study programs where you can do a work exchange to enroll in workshops. I researched and applied to about four of them, but Arrowmont was the one that called me back.

I still remember the conversation. Angela called to say:

"Your background is not typical of who we bring, but I think this will change your life."

That was quite the understatement.

At the time, the work study program was loosely scheduled, and I ended up staying at Arrowmont for five months and taking ten different jewelry workshops.

I met so many working studio artists and got to see the many different ways people make a living doing this. I left and continued traveling, taking more workshops, gathering experience. Eventually I went to graduate school — but I always wanted to get back to Arrowmont.

The Residency

They have a residency program that had been a goal of mine for years. A year after graduate school, I applied — and got in.

It was another life-changing experience. You get housing, a studio, and a small stipend, but you also get to meet all the instructors and students coming through for workshops. I made lifelong friends there. I loved having the time to explore and work through ideas without the usual noise.

One part of the program is helping to install and uninstall work for the shows they host throughout the season. I think that was the first time I started seriously thinking about getting work off the body and into the built environment.

For our final show, one of my biggest pieces was a wall-installed work made from small box forms — flat pieces of steel bent into shallow three-dimensional shapes. Because they sat flush against the wall, they read as an installation, but they were fully wearable — you could take them down and put them on.

It was the first time I really felt that tension between object and adornment, and I've been thinking about it ever since. After the residency in 2017, I moved to Pittsburgh. I've been back to Arrowmont almost every year since — as a teacher, an assistant, and for other programming.

Back Again This Month

This month, I returned to teach, and my good friend Lisa Johnson came as my assistant.

The workshop I proposed was a little different from what I've taught before. I also work in steel and teach classes around that material, but after watching Lisa teach last fall, I structured this one around specific daily projects — earrings, necklace, ring, brooch, pendant, one each day.

The new format gave everyone real room to explore and experiment, and my class did such amazing work.

One of the unexpected joys was the group of teachers I got to be alongside.

Rainy Lehrman, whose beautiful bent wood jewelry I had just seen at the Smithsonian last month. Ann Tilley, who was teaching a quilting class — I got to learn all about her YouTube channel and pattern-making business, and I'm fairly convinced we are the same person (fellow Virgo).

Tony Santoyo was teaching clay handbuilding and I was completely blown away by his work. And I got to reconnect with Leah Leitson, a potter I'd first met during my residency — we finally had time to really talk, and got in some great trades.

I'm back now, still catching up on sleep, but feeling so full from my time there.

Truly,
Maia