.staying open.

It’s been a wild unexpected year - I left Central Idaho at the beginning of September 2017 and drove cross-country back to New England. My stay was short only a few months until a new opportunity presented itself in Western North Carolina so I drove down at the end of March.

From the outside it might look like many things - it might look like a nomadic adventure but internally I found myself frustrated over and over again by things “not working out” or finding that the anticipated path curved to a new unknown direction. This has happened with every move. So now as I am in that place of geographical transition I have felt waves of frustration that it didn’t work out or go as planned until I started listening a little close and seeing/hearing those signs that are always waiting for us. I listened to a podcast with Liz Gilbert talking about how beautiful and magical and unknown life is as it curves and winds and we can’t let fear lead us on this journey.  The next day I saw a friend's picture who is serving in the Peace Corps Morocco, a friend I served with in the Peace Corps with 10 years ago and I felt such profound gratitude, nostalgia and heartache thinking about my time in the Peace Corps. It was the most unexpected journey of my life. I landed into the unknown and it pushed, pulled, and guided me through to find a new more vulnternable more open and more compassionate being. These culminating moments help remind me that it’s not my job to judge my journey but to be present- to listen - to let go of expectations and follow where I am led in order to allow life to let me be the person I am becoming.

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I made a small collection of earrings inspired by this moment + idea of staying open to the unknown + unexpected. 

See more in the AEO etsy shop.

.in the studio.

A new idea/creation/collection is in the works!! During my recent trip to Fundy National Park in New Brunswick I was so inspired by it's mysterious diverse vast nature I find myself still thinking about it weeks later. 

I collected some small smooth stones during low tide that I sat on my windowsil as soon as I got home. I kept thinking about how to use them and then started sketching jewelry designs. 

The first project was a brooch with a set emerald green stone. I love how it captures an element of Fundy, inspired by a stone dropping into the river sending radiating ripples. I was so captivated by Fundy for it’s diverse flora so as I continue to explore this project I will be attempting to capture a certain element of Fundy with each brooch!

I’m excited to share more as the collection continues to unfold!

.happy international women's day.

I learned to make jewelry as a young teen at a bead shop in my hometown. The shop was owned by this vibrant woman who made gorgeous jewelry and traveled the world buying jewelry supplies and handmade goods! I always felt so much magic and freedom when I was in her shop which later absorbed into how I felt making jewelry! I went on to start my own jewelry business at 19, selling at the local farmer's market. I know without that experience as a young teen to have seen my own reflection in a vibrant, independent woman entrepreneur I couldn't of imagined starting my own business, that experience allowed me the freedom to believe it was possible for me. I'm celebrating all the amazing women in my life who have been role models and teachers for me to dream MORE and BIGGER! May we all have role models in which we can see our own reflection of possibilities and dreams!

HappyWomen's Day!

.reminder.

I received such a kind e-mail today from someone who was gifted one of my bracelets for Christmas. She told me the bracelet brought her so much joy and she wears it daily. Her compliment just reenergized me and I was so grateful to receive her words - but - I thought why do I wait (rely) on those outside compliments to remind myself of my value? I know the value (beauty) of my work. Each piece of my jewelry is a long intimate journey of processing something occurring in my life in that moment. I design - fabricate - finish - each unique and one-of-a-kind.

Why can't I grasp it's beauty until someone from the outside describes it? 

This moment was such a good reminder of how so often I forget myself - my story. This process of remembering who I am - who we are over and over again. I pledge to continue to jump inside myself this year!

How do you remember your unique story?

exposed::vulnerable jewelry collection

I went to Portugal to study metalsmith techniques and it ended up changing my relationship with how i made art - how i want to make art but it’s always a transition to changing a relationship/habit. I came back feeling recharged and lost - like reunited with a loved one after something has happened. This is jewelry. This is my art. This is my greatest teacher. But I didn’t know how to interact with it anymore. I was frustrated to not have the same relationship - to feel like I didn’t know it/connect with it.

Mark Nepo said that anxiety is the reaction to freedom.

At the same time I came back to a home that no longer felt like a home. In the following months I had to move out of a somewhere that I called home for a year and half, which is like forever in my timeline. I met - connected and separated from people in small and deep ways. I also met someone that connected with me in a new exciting and overwhelming way - a connection that made me feel recharged and lost. A connection that would demand openness/vulnerability in a way I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.

I left the east and returned home in the west and back to the east and then the midwest and head back east for a few weeks before I got west again. With only a small backpack, 4 outfits, The Book of Awakening and jewelry supplies. The great opportunity to learn how to be human - without comforts and hideaways.

I sat down in the studio again and started to make one earrings, slowly. I made the earring and then had another idea. I kept making pieces one at a time with new ideas slowing building on one another.

The pieces weren’t beautiful in a traditional way. The pieces were rough and industrial. The pieces felt like that were showing something they should be, exposed. The pieces are made with no home - an energy of being recharged and lost - completely human. The story I am telling right now. The story I need to tell over and over again to better understand this place I am in. The story I need to tell to reconnect with this new relationship I have with my art, jewelry. The new relationship in my life that requires all the darkness, space, details, roughness to be out - to be appreciated in a way something loved only can be, completely/actively.

I hope you find these pieces to be truth-tellers, reminders that we are all on this rugged /beautiful path. I hope you find community and healing in this universal truth we are all seeking. We are beautiful/unfinished/evolving/exposed beings - looking for a home/connection/peace/purpose and the only way is through in the surrender into this moment.

You can find the new wares in the AEO shop now.

aliciaeo.etsy.com

.AEO sale.

I'm moving out of my apartment this month and making studio space for the new collection coming soon so I decided to have an AEO sale on all the fiber necklaces. All necklaces are now only $25 and $20. This is a very special sale!! Be sure to check out all the necklaces in the AEO etsy shop now!

AEO Sale

.studio views.

I have totally fallen in love with carving wax. Here are some pictures from the studio the past few weeks, working on the next collection, connection.

.AEO classics.

I've been busy in the studio learning about investment casting - practicing/obsessing over a new method of making. I can't stop. I'm totally hooked with a new method of making jewelry. I'm finishing up a new all cast collection of wares right now but in the meantime I decided to put up a few AEO classic wares in the shop because it's summer and that means it's time to accessorize with bangles and studs!!!

Check out the AEO wares in the shop now!

aliciaeo.com/shop

Happy Summer to you all!!

.telling the story in a new way.

I've been in a jet lag haze for several days and I'm finally coming out of it. I'm excited/anxious to get back in the studio and create, start to process this time. I sat down yesterday morning with all my amazing beach stones from Lagos and started to sketch some ideas. I liked the ideas but it wasn't much different than what I had been designing before Portugal. I realized that I am ready to challenge myself more. I started to think about movement/flow of ideas. I started imagining creating a special collection of pieces incorporating the hand-selected stones from Lagos. It felt like a lot. I was hesitant to even start sketch ideas - it didn't feel right. 

Friends have asked what Portugal has done for my jewelry - has(will) it changed my jewelry? Portugal changed the way I view/interact with the process of making and designing jewelry. It reminded me of the lost element of storytelling in each piece. 

Portugal made me fall in love with with light + shadows. The story of elements: the sun + time of day + building (canvas). To me light + shadows are a reminder that all is I see is coming from within me. We are constantly reflecting ourselves onto the world, that's perspective. 

My jewelry is a story. I have to learn how to tell that story in a brand new way, that's mine to figure out how. Portugal just gave me the light + shadows to see it.

.day 30.

I've realized that my time here is to absorb - collect - be. I have so many questions and no answers. I just keep reminding myself to just be grateful for the questions and their answers will come in their own time. I'm a triple fire sign. I'm impulsive. I'm passionate. I'm social. This time here has been isolating in a really nourishing and challenging way. It's building a new awareness inside of me. On my bike ride the phrase "I reside here" came into my mind. I didn't know where it came from at first but then I realized all this time - space - solitude has made me realize how much I leap from myself. How much I reach - strive - outwards - away from myself. 

I reside here. 
A reminder to myself to stay home - right here - inside of myself.

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep and an idea, a design came into my mind that holds to essence of this truth. I'm going to sketch them out today on my commute to the studio. I'm excited to see how they evolve.

.small business saturday.

Support small businesses today!! If you were looking for some AEO holiday goodies this is the time - I'm offering 15% off all AEO wares today and tomorrow! Just use the coupon code: SHOPSMALL at checkout. Thank for all the love and support.

AEO SHOP

.AEO holiday trunk show.

The AEO holiday trunk show was beautiful! I'm realizing more and more my process and with that I am be able to see and feel my growth. I had my first trunk show in this space in July, it was a BIG personal challenge to make enough wares, figure out what I needed to prepare for the event and curate the living room to a temporary AEO gallery. It was exciting but also a project that was so much larger than I expected. The months since July have been huge for me as an artist - a change happened, I don't even know when it happened but something shifted, aligned. This trunk show was also a challenge but the rhythm of the process was easier to find, the curation of the space just happened and my ability to share myself as an artist - in vulnerability - didn't feel so revealing. I don't know how to describe it but I felt in myself. Do you know what I mean? Have you even felt that - when you don't need to reach outwards as much?

The trunk show also revealed that even beyond creating wares, the creation of space - curating an experience - evoking a feeling in others is one of my most favorite forms to share. It makes me feel connect - it allows me to imprint myself onto a moment - to take all my thoughts/feels and make it tangible in a way, if only for a moment.

Art is how I share myself - how I process all the wild unknown of life. I am so grateful to have found my art - to have begun to find my process/rhythm. To begin to realize that all my art is inside me - I hold it - always.

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If you haven't checked out the new aeo shop, take a look! Holiday shopping deadline is December 18th! xx

AEO shop

.brand N E W AEO shop.

I am so thrilled!! The brand N E W AEO shop is LIVE!! This has been a big project for me as an artist. I selected my favorite pieces from 3 of my collections, Unveiling Truths, Rebirth, and Broken::Bloom and had a dear friend/artist/photography take professional pictures. It feels like a real step forward as an artist, taking my art to a new level. You can find the shop via my website, aliciaeo.com or directly right here.

Thanks for all the love and support!!
xx Alicia

.hi holiday season.

Whoa! The new moon has brought so much many new ventures and potential projects for my jewelry business, AEO designs. Yesterday I realized "oh this is what holiday season prep feels like!!" but I love it. So grateful for all the abundance in my life right now. 

DREAM DEEPER AND WIDER!!

.friday night.

"What you seek is seeking you"

RUMI

.full moon truths.

Finding my rhythm today.

This full moon revealed somethings I need to let go of - a reality I haven't wanted to acknowledge. Then the summer sun woke me up this morning - blinding me with newness.

Life always gives me what I need - if I open myself to it!!

.making.

That energy/urge/push is back. I've been so inspired this summer but that need to make something hasn't been there. I've been sitting in the inspiration knowing the energy would come but not knowing when or in what form it would show itself. 

I created an office space and started to decorate it with found objects from my summer travels. Then it started to come - the energy/urge/push - the desire to work with clay again. 

The need to bring clay + metal together. The malleable with the rigid.  
To embody the texture of the sea. 
To hold the healing/peace in each ware - a physical mantra.

slow down

breathe abundance

let your secrets dissolve into known truths

renewed in every moment

exposed/vulnerable

with the distractions muted

to be present to

silent discoveries

.sunday night.

I've been traveling for the past month, which has been so wonderful. Summer time in New England makes up for every horrible no good very bad moment of winter. I've missed the studio. I've only had moments in the studio in the past few weeks - squeezing in time to finish up my summer commissions. 

My summer travels have left me so inspired (as they always do) the magical rawness of foggy Maine mornings and afternoon downpours, the hot swampy mornings on the cape and the hidden beaches swimming with seals only feet away, the fascinating subculture of Rhode Island island life and ferry rides to the Boston harbor islands - I feel full from a nutritious meal of nature inspirations but I don't know what to do with it. Like a present that is too beautiful and perfect to open - how do I express this/interpret this...I don't know. It's going to take more time. 

Yesterday I saw something and is sparked a surge of energy - ideas of new shapes - the connection of metal and clay. I was ready to make something new. I spent the evening in the studio playing with these shapes. I am exciting to be creating new things again, to be surged with energy, to be interpreting something - again.  

More to come.

.the process of art.

Sometimes it can take a day, a week or a year to make a piece. Each piece has it's own time, process and personality. Much like people (teachers) that come into our lives. Sometimes it's slow and steady - growing with someone over time, sometimes it's a mere flash - slit second impact, sometimes like magic someone will appear and in that moment it feels like you've always been connected, sometimes you walk with someone so long you can't remember ever walking without them and then you look away for a moment and they're gone - like that pathway never existed, sometimes your path gets windy and even though you walk alone their path keeps bumping into yours and it's always at the right moment...so many teachers we find.

Art has been one of my greatest teachers. Teaching me to be patient, not force (control), not hold expectations only openness to let things move through me and to hold onto only amazement when they do - so beautifully. 

I've been so inspired by metal forms the past few months - making small wearable structures. I made a pendant about 3 weeks ago but didn't know how to make it into a necklace. It's just been sitting on my bedroom shelves staring at me. Then today I wandered to a fabric store and found it - the missing piece. I saw it and I knew it was the perfect combo. I am going to finish the piece.

So grateful for these lessons in awareness. Just like relationships - don't judge or categorize or compare - see what they are offering and gracious accept it - a gift.