Tending to the Artistic Soul: An Evolution of the Studio's Mission

As we gathered for our end-of-year celebration at Zephyr, I looked around at the shining faces of my team and realized that we'd built something incredibly special. A cultivation of shared dreams and passions opened the door to so much more than a thriving creative business - we had created a community alight with love and possibilities.

Lea, Olive, Niikah, & Micaiah at the studio. Photo by Emilee Covers

Tending to the people who work with us has always been at the heart of the mission at the studio. It's meant giving space to and celebrating the process of being human as the most important part of creativity, and it shows in the way we are able to show up to our work and each other.

I've known that centering the innate human needs and cycles of my team has been important to truly create a business that is aligned with a sense of care and abundance since day one, but as with many values we hold in our lives, this one continues to teach me and draw me closer to the work.

Earlier this summer, I realized that if I am to take the studio into the vision of truly thriving artistry that I know is possible, I had to make the choice to live even more deeply into prioritizing my needs rather than expecting them to be fulfilled randomly in the process.

The decision to center living well as a pathway to aligned evolution is one that collaborates with the source of my creativity rather than extracting from it, and in the process opens the door to creating a life and workplace that is even more deeply aligned with authentic living.

Though subtle, the radical shift from perpetual productivity to emergent expression means tending to life as the source of creation, not just the fuel source for what we make. To create from a place that supports life shifts the focus to discovering what is necessary to live well.

As I endeavor into the next handful of months of deep nourishment, learning, and integration, I am actively living into these values of life-centered creation and am delighted to discover and share what emerges. This is the work of shifting mission from concept into embodied reality, and is the gateway through which new realities will come to light.

If you're at a crossroads in your own journey and are curious of where to go next, here are a few questions I have asked myself to bring clarity to the process:

1. What is my truest vision for my life? If anything would be possible, who would I be? What would I be doing?

2. What do I need to be that version of myself? What do I need to prioritize in my life; what do I need to let fall away?

3. Are there any ways that I can live into my core values more deeply?

4. What needs to change in order for my dreams and visions to become a possibility?

I always love hearing what folks are dreaming of or working on, so reach out if you'd like to share!

In gratitude.