The world is a masterpiece. With each step she takes, the light changes. Color unfurls as different hues unfold. With each step the angles shift, presenting a different perspective. She is surrounded by such breathtaking beauty! At ease, she simply allows each new breath to come, grateful. Swaddled in beauty she moves through the world with an artist soul.

     Motherhood completed her like never before. Yet, there was also an aspect of diminishing. It felt like much of her life was suddenly put on hold. She had to let go of her art studio, her aspiration to earn a living as a working artist. She felt a loss without the time and place to create.

     Yet, she’s come to realize that being an artist is not something she can give up – it is an essential part of her being. Artist is her essence. She has learned that being an artist is about more than producing objects of artwork. She is now weaving an artistic path into life.  She has learned that the most important thing in realizing her artist soul is to pay attention to her immediate environment, and appreciate the beauty in the world around her. She enlivens her artist soul by so thoroughly absorbing her surroundings that she becomes a part of it – moving creatively within the masterpiece. Experiencing the beauty allows creativity to flow into her interaction with the world. She can take a morning walk into the great outdoors and fall into the masterpiece, into a world of awe. She’s come around the bend to a place where she feels more complete than ever before. She is now able to lean more fully into motherhood, into her children’s lives, and welcome the responsibilities that it demands.

     Maya Kraushaar comes from a family of artists. Grandpa Art was a pharmacist, and owned his own pharmacy until he retired – Nichols pharmacy. (Nichols, Maya’s maiden name – is derived from Nejaim and was changed to Nichols after Maya’s great-grandfather immigrated to the US from Lebanon.) But Maya remembers the special time that she spent with Grandpa in the garden and his little woodshop. Grandpa loved to spend time in his garden, and he created beautiful wood furniture of the Shaker style. Grandma was a writer. She wrote for the Berkshire Eagle. Maya has precious memories of grandma teaching her to sew, and long walks just the two of them. Aunt Maris is a writer. Uncle Arthur is a black-and-white photographer. Uncle Joe was a musician – a singer/songwriter, and played the piano. Maya and her mom got together with them all on most holidays, and visited the grandparents on special occasions. Mom is a painter, and was a singer/songwriter and played the guitar. She performed in the LA and Boston areas.

     Maureen Nichols, Mom, raised Maya by herself, other than the brief period living in LA. Though Maya’s upbringing was not typical, she had a good childhood. Maya was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, located in Western MA. When Maya was three, Mom decided to move to Hollywood to try and further her singing career. Maureen met Paul – and they all moved in together. He was a good man, and Maya would become strongly attached to him. They all lived in a tiny single-family home. She remembers bars on the doors and windows. An orange tree in the backyard. A beloved goldfish. A new swing set. Going on hikes and playing on the beach. Playing with a friend across the street in a big apartment building. Playing with snails on the wall. Earthquakes – watching Dennis the Menace when suddenly the house starts rocking in waves, her child-mind thinking that it was Paul hurling boulders at the side of the house with a catapult like something out of the Flintstones, and then mom comes crawling into the living room on her hands and knees with a big pillow over her head, yelling for Maya to get under the pillow with her, both of them crawling to the front door, mom yelling to a man walking down the sidewalk, “is this an earthquake?!”, and he simply replies yes and keeps on walking and Maya and Mom get under the kitchen table.

     After living in LA for 3 ½ years, mom decided that they needed to move back home. Yet, LA was Maya’s home. Maya loved Paul. She did not want to leave, and the move was very hard on her. When Maya and Mom arrived in Massachusetts they found out that the van carrying all their earthly belongings had caught fire and burned, including Mom’s guitars. All they had were a few clothes in a suitcase. They settled in Watertown, near Boston. They were extremely poor for years. In the fourth grade they moved to Cambridge, which became Mom’s permanent residence. Maya got involved running track with a small youth team. They practiced on the MIT indoor track. Maya continued with indoor and outdoor track, and cross-country in high school. Maya has always loved being creative, and in the fourth grade she realized that she was an artist. She loved painting, drawing, sewing, and making things from clay. In middle school some of her peers started viewing her as artistic.

     The summer after high school Maya was able to meet with her mom’s past partner, Paul. Paul from her childhood in California. This was a curative experience for Maya. Being able to reconnect allowed her to bring some closure to that period of her life. Around this time Maya was also able to contact her biological father. He is Lebanese, but currently lives in Saudi Arabia. Over the years she has kept in touch by using face-time applications such as WhatsApp and Skype.

     After high school Maya attended the Massachusetts College of Art, in Boston. It is located near Fenway Park and the Museum of Fine Art. Her focus was sculpture. A multitude of general education requirements consumed most of her time when she first began. She was excited to take welding and forging class her freshman year. She loved it until the day she had a bad accident on the stationary metal grinder. The metal piece she was grinding caught, and was suddenly tugged into the opening along with her thumb and forefinger. She had reconstructive surgery on her thumb, and missed the remainder of the semester. She was back in school the following semester, and focused on ceramics from that point forward.

     The favorite part of her freshman year was a two week trip to the Southwest. She was one of 12 selected to participate in a cultural education program. They painted a mural in the Boys and Girls Club at Shiprock, New Mexico. The group toured the spectacular landscapes in the Four Corners area. They were even escorted by a Navajo guide onto the base of Shiprock, where non-tribe members are generally not allowed to go. They were invited to a pow-wow, and Maya was amazed with the drumming circle of men from young boys to elderly, singing in unison. She saw wild horses for the first time. The experience dramatically changed Maya. The wide-open vistas, the contours and the shapes shifted 

something inside her and rocked her world. It fed her and became a part of her being. It called to her.

It took her three years to make it happen, and her time spent at the Massachusetts College of Art was valuable; yet, Maya transferred to the University of New Mexico. Albuquerque was magical. She loved the sun, the food, the way it smelled. She had a good experience at UNM. She really got into Raku firing and that was her focus in ceramics for the year.

     She met a boy, and the boy introduced her to Grand Junction and Mesa State College (Colorado Mesa University). The ceramics department at Mesa was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G ! The art building was practically brand-new. It was three stories, and the entire bottom floor was ceramics and foundry. After a year at UNM, Maya transferred to Mesa. The boy didn’t last long, but she fell in love with the Grand Valley and surrounding area.

     Maya’s senior project was a set of slab and coil built candy machines etched with comic-book style images and words advertising the pills inside. The machines theoretically vended pharmaceuticals from a fictional company called Remedex. One machine dispensed antidepressants, the second diet pills and the third male enhancement pills. Yes, contemporary American society – popping pills like candy. Maya’s degree was in ceramic sculpture.

     After graduation Maya worked as a server at the Redlands Mesa golf course and then tended bar and served at the downtown restaurant The Winery. During that time she had her own art studio, with a wheel and kiln. She also worked with mixed-media, textile fabric, and painting. Maya demonstrated her artistic techniques at the Art Center, taught at their youth camp, and modeled. She had art exhibits at GJ City Hall, at what used to be Planet Earth Four Directions Art Gallery, at the Art on Trout Annual Show, and at Studios on Kennedy. For the exhibit at City Hall, Maya casted body parts of her friends with plaster and then used the molds to create ceramic replicas of the body parts. Then she glazed them to look like they were decaying or almost becoming petrified. She nestled each part in a bed of sand and rock, and planted thyme beneath and around the parts. The message was: life from death, cycle of life, beauty in death, life in death, etc. Maya remembers going to City Hall once a week for three months with a watering can to keep the thyme growing. “People waiting in line to pay their utility bills would watch me watering these body parts. One lady commented to another person in line how disgusting the installation was. That actually put a smile on my face because it meant people were noticing the work and not just passing it by.”

     Maya met Paul (Kraushaar) at The Winery, where they both worked as servers. They worked together for about five years, becoming close friends, but didn’t get together romantically until after they stopped working together. They would socialize with the rest of the staff, and at one point joined CrossFit Red together and became work-out freaks for a while. They enjoyed talking with each other, cooking elaborate meals together, rollerblading together. Their romantic relationship grew very naturally from their friendship.
     Maya and Paul moved in together, and when Maya became pregnant several months later they thought they may as well make their commitment official – they got married. Tobias was born in 2014 and Phoebe joined the family in 2015.

     Three years later the marriage fell apart. There was a large financial burden, including student loans. And they had two young kids, parenting for the first time. They had no outside support. It felt like they were living isolated on an island. They were both feeling overwhelmed and depressed. Maya and Paul separated. They filed for divorce. During this period they both remained firmly committed to the children, and put the children first. The separation allowed Maya and Paul a different perspective on things, and about a year later they both started attending UUCGV Sunday Services, partly for the sake of the children. Then began a slow, gradual process of reconciliation. As the date for their divorce to be finalized neared, they discussed whether they wanted to go through with it. Ultimately, they decided to end the marriage, because it truly had been broken. Now, they are beginning again, living together, joining in a happy home.

     Looking back, Maya wonders if much of the angst in the marriage might have been avoided if they had had the support of a stronger community all along. Maya and Paul are grateful to have found this special community at the UUCGV. Maya and Paul and the children enjoy their time at church. It is wonderful to have found a place that nourishes their spiritual needs. A place that supports young families. A place where they feel that they truly belong.

     Many of you already know that Maya is our UUCGV Community’s fabulous, multi-talented multitasking administrator. Her work is the glue that holds it all together. Maya has been working for our Grand Valley UU congregation since November 2018. All who have come into contact with her know how capable she is, and how lucky we are to have her.

     Maya is looking forward to 2020, excited to see what the next decade holds. She is hoping to one day meet her father in person. She also has five siblings, ages 9-26, who she would love to contact and perhaps meet. When Maya and Paul find time for just the two of them, they love going on long drives, just talking and enjoying the scenery. Maya is turning the page to a new chapter, embracing motherhood and cherishing the simple things like watching her children learn to read. It has been delightful to witness the artistic development of her children. Tobias loves art – painting and constructing, seeing how things fit together. Phoebe seems to lean more into dancing and singing. Maya finds joy, peace, and fulfillment when spending time outdoors with Paul and the kids – exploring, hiking, planting and tending to the plants. When forced to be indoors, she loves making crafts with them, cooking with them, and dancing with them. Maya also loves doing these things on her own as well. She recharges during her times of quiet and solitude.

                                          Life goes on…       in endless song…

     Thank you to everyone who participated in our Vision 2030 Town Hall meeting in January!  Maya has posted the minutes from the meeting as well as pictures of the flip charts in the Member Zone of our webpage;  I invite you to take a look.  In the “Mission/Vision Dot Activity” I was struck by how evenly people put their dots next to all of the different lines of our mission and vision statements.  We as a congregation want equally to nurture each other, the earth of which we are a part, and to reach out to our larger community.  We strongly value lifelong learning and spiritual growth.  If we emphasize any one of these facets too much over another, we will feel out of balance.  We did not leave the meeting with a clear plan forward  from here to 2030, but I believe that our conversing clarified our values, and will alert us to when a “good fit” collaboration opportunity comes up for us. 

     The “Living into our Inclusivity Proclamation” event that was hosted at UUCGV on February 11th may be one such opportunity.  We found many people in the Grand Valley who share our passion for an inclusive Grand Junction community that celebrates diversity.  Two comments from that night’s brainstorming especially stood out in my mind.  One person suggested having activities in which diverse groups would be brought together: not as spectators, but working side by side, having fun together.  Another person said that we need inclusive gathering places in Grand Junction; places where people from all backgrounds can congregate.   Reflecting on these comments, I wondered: Could we help Mesa County Libraries to shape the Discovery Garden (next door to UUCGV) into a place where people from different walks of life can work side by side, congregate, and feel true ownership and welcome?  If so, what would be the steps to accomplishing this?  Maybe the first step would be to listen to the voices of those who are more marginalized in our community, and get their ideas of how to accomplish this. 

     You may have additional ideas stirring in your hearts.  Share the ideas that you feel passionate about helping bring into fruition.  Let us continue to “foster lifelong learning, diversity, and spiritual growth”.  Let us “live our Unitarian Universalist values of justice, reason, and compassion” into the next decade by “reaching out to the larger community, nurturing one another, and the earth of which we are a part” at a whole new level.  

​~ Elizabeth High