A personal letter for you

Hello lovely people, I wanted to officially introduce myself to those who may not know me and show those who do know me, why this handmade business is so important to me.

I hope that if you have supported me in any way, you will take the time to celebrate this big moment with me. I wish I could throw a huge party to celebrate this all with you, but I hope this will suffice for now. 

My name is Faiza Anam and I am a polymer clay artist who also dabbles in other mixed media. I see no limit to what one can create and love sharing my love of art and life with you. I have a psychology degree and counselling diploma, education that I still use to this day even throughout my art practice. I am pan, married and have a cat, hoping to have another cat...and a dog. Basically I want you to help me fund my future animal sanctuary, half kidding.

When I first started learning and playing with polymer clay in 2019, I had no idea I would find that it was this fulfilling. I thought it would be therapeutic on some level but I had no clue what awaited me. Soon, I learned that people appreciated the art I made, and even wanted to buy what I made. 

At the time I didn't even feel right calling myself an artist. I thought I am still learning and I had major imposter syndrome. All I knew was, I had finally found something special, just for me, that no one I knew did. I had been searching for that one thing that made me feel unique and talented, someone worthy of learning from and being inspired by. I spent so much of my life feeling a bit invisible, like I wasn't memorable or doing anything of impact. But I cannot even tell you what art has done for me and how much I am growing, as an artist and as a human. The connections alone, that I have made attending markets and posting online, is priceless. 

 Even though art had been a part of my life since I can remember, I was never taught about art history at home or anything beyond grade school. I didn't even know what was possible in the art world because I did not have the privilege or access to learn about such things and am so grateful for the internet. I never learned art theory, at least not enough to retain it and even in high school I felt lesser than compared to those around me. I used to give up so easily in my younger years. 

Completing my degree and polymer clay are the only two things I have never given up on and I am so proud of how far I have come and how far I plan to go. It took me three years to finally start to feel okay about calling myself an artist. I know my purpose is to bring love and joy into peoples' lives and show them how to create their own world, full of whimsy, wonder and compassion.

I hope you will join me on this adventure to freedom: freedom to create, freedom to provide for my family, freedom to help those who need it the most. As much as I hate to admit it, money is a huge way to help people and with the goals I have in mind (building workshops, initiatives, and one day in the long future: community centers); I will need your support and your genuine consideration to make it happen. We have the power to do things differently than those in power who are failing us everyday, and I hope you will support small businesses who care about people, community and service. 

Thank you if you got this far, whew, love ya! Talk to you another time.

Love,

Faiza