Inclined For More, Full Edition
Questions answered for Katie Blackley on her segment “Quick Questions” for WESA. Link to the segment above. Full Questions below.
Katie: “Introduce yourself (however you’d like to be identified), and can you describe the kind of work you do?”
Alyssa: I’m Alyssa Maurer. Before this trip, I identified as a non-practicing intellectual who aspires to facilitate the kind of experiences that you only get once per lifetime. I aspire to, but that’s rarely the case. I’d like for my presence and life’s work to be viewed as a humorous mythos when I’m gone. I am an artist, a bartender, a welder, a professor, a photographer, and a comedian in the Pittsburgh Area.
I am an artist first and foremost, with formal training in a variety of media such as sculpture, painting, ceramics, music, and dance. Mama Maurer and my grandmother insisted that we (my sisters and I) got exposed to the arts early on.
I specialize in media studies with my primary focus being in Photography or image making with light. Lately, I’ve forked away from the nomenclature of cameras and have been making work focusing on the practice and techniques of cameraless photography. At present, the work consists of cyanotypes, flatbed scans, mixed media, experimental photography, metal sculptures, and collodion printing.
I’ve become spellbound by the practice of presence; what it means to be present, how we share presence, and how we facilitate spaces for presence to happen. In teaching, I emphasize and share this practice by encouraging and facilitating hands-on learning–getting away from phones and distractions that take away from the craft. There is something so magical about teaching the next generation about light-based work. They can’t use their phones or laptops while performing or practicing (especially in the darkroom) because the light from their distractions will erase their work.
Desuit, mixed media collage, Alyssa Maurer, 2026
The bulk of my work exhibits themes of belonging, bodies (water, people, homes), and my insights from encountering the feeling of presence–of being here, in the moment–wait now this one–this moment–this–
Shit, there I go again…
And the phenomenological effects this has on our perceptions of time. My work incorporates humor as a bridge for others to access, creating comedic pauses where a community can laugh alongside me.
Katie: You recently had the opportunity to do something very cool in France! Tell us about your residency.
Alyssa: Yes, and I am still begrudgingly longing for French cheese while jet-lagged, even after two weeks of being back. Just a forewarning to other travelers, yes, it does take THAT LONG to adjust sometimes.
My residency was magic from the start to finish. I got accepted into the artist and writer’s residency at Chateau D’Orquevaux in December of 2024. I say magic from the start because I didn’t expect to get it. I didn’t know it was competitive, and I wasn’t entirely sure about its legitimacy. I was in a dark place at the time, and I applied while slightly inebriated (I disclosed the inebriation jokingly when introducing myself at the Chateau so it’s a known statement). Suffice it to say, I was shellshocked and had a year or two to plan ahead.
The artist and writer residency at Chateau Orquevaux is nestled in the picturesque Champagne-Ardenne region of France and was founded by Co-Directors Beulah van Rensburg and Ziggy Attias. The region is ripe with inspiration and few distractions–making it an ideal place to self-reflect and make headway with personal projects. Additionally, the buildings that the residents live in and surround themselves with have incredible histories to delve into at Orquevaux. For example, I became fascinated with hunting because the Chateau was once a hunting estate for game such as deer, duck, and boar. The tradition of hunting in France is “Desuet” or obsolete to many Americans. Many hunters in France still carry out the tradition of playing French horns to announce a hunt, utilizing dogs for hunting, and riding on horseback for sport.
Get in the water, archival inkjet print, Alyssa Maurer 2026
Furthermore, it was hunting season during my stay from March 9th to March 29th, and the residents were advised about the hunters in the surrounding area. While the Chateau houses artists instead of hunters at present, the walls are decorated with tapestries and taxidermied animals, exhibiting this important tradition. Inspired, I had asked to use one of the taxidermied pieces in my project, and the Co-Founders had a taxidermied deer head at my studio the next day.
While I didn’t get to experience all of France with its crepes and Parisian distractions, I did get to experience the serenity and slowness of being in the remote French countryside with other inspiring people–25 of them to be exact, with ages ranging from 21 to 86, from all over the world. I got lost in the French forest trying to escape Orquevaux for cigarettes and lottery tickets on a bike. I did a polar plunge with another resident in freezing weather for a week straight, and I made friends with an angry swan named Steve. I couldn’t have asked for more, and I don’t know if Paris has any of those experiences.
The diversity of my group was notably “special”. The residency assistants and co-founders even remarked upon how beautifully we accepted one another. There were no conflicts, judgments, or discrimination based on our collective differences. I was happy to have been there and, hopefully, aided in facilitating such a memorable experience.
Katie: “You say the “Chateau provided all the answers I was aimlessly looking for back home.” Can you talk more about that? What did you discover?”
Alyssa: Oh, boy, hah. I discovered so much in my time away. Not just about myself, but about people (specifically, that French people are not rude and are actually charming and delightfully receptive to my comedic quarrels), culture, and the world outside of the USA. Let me be frank, the USA has been depressing. I see the social impacts of our leadership’s negligence on a daily basis. I think everyone can feel it, and it’s difficult to work or talk to people when you and everyone around you are just trying to survive.
To summarize, I got answers on how to be human again. I came to realize that Fascism isn’t just a USA problem, and I discovered how to move forward with my creativity even as my surroundings are strip-mined of their resources.
Carpe Nocturne, archival inkjet print, Alyssa Maurer 2026
I was in a dark place for months up until January of 2026. I had started a new job in a new career, which I was gleefully excited about initially, only for that experience to turn sour. For context, I had gone back to school for welding (CCAC Oakdale) after being wrongfully terminated from a bartending job. That was the ending of a 10-year career for me and the assurance I needed to move on. In addition, I was teaching at Point Park University (I love my students and the faculty there), doing comedy shows, and trying my best to get by doing freelance photography as well. It was immeasurably tiring at the time, but well worth the struggle because I was doing everything I loved to do.
I had to give up almost all of that work for this welding job because it was a union with strict policies in June 2025, and I began working second shift (2-10:30) in July 2025, which meant that my evenings and comedy couldn’t happen. This was isolating. I didn’t have the time or the energy to work on my other projects, and while I enjoyed working with my male cohorts, they would belittle me based on my sex from time to time, so my communication with them gradually dissipated. I was a single female in a male-dominated field with hardly anyone to relate to or anyone to understand me, and I live alone, so there wasn’t anyone to bounce ideas off of.
I could feel myself starting to hate and fear other people. The debilitating national and local news cycles added to those fears, my distrust in others, and made me self-isolate even more. This is the opposite of who I am and how I normally operate. I’m a comedian for crying out loud! Why do comedy if you don’t like people? Part of my practice as an interdisciplinary artist is social engagement, and I was straying far away from social interactions. I was conducting research and taking pictures here and there, but progress in my artistic practice felt futile.
I coexisted as a visual artist, and I was a part of the writer’s circle at the residency, which is a self-motivated program. Meaning, if you don’t want to participate, you don’t have to engage with other artists, the itinerary, or curated activities. I, like the original resident and celebrated Philosopher Denis Diderot, always have art on my mind and knew that writing would be an important extension of this project–it would unlock some things for me as it has done in the past in group settings. That being said, I felt like I was running in circles while working on my current project. Without feedback or help on the writing and research portion of the work, I genuinely felt not only lost but misunderstood.
If not for offering new insight or group discourse about the project, I would at least be motivated to write alongside them. I owe much of the new developments of The Infinite Temporal to the writer’s group at Chateau D’Orquevaux for their support and sincere feedback. The Writer’s Circle, directed by Susie Q, is open to all forms of writing. Of course, I wrote some comedy routines while there, based on experiences I had, and performed some old routines. Fun fact: telling French speakers to say “nipples” in a heavy accent is an easy way to get a whole room laughing.
While making headway on my personal projects at the residency, I made progress on my well-being. So much of my mindset had been set on just surviving in the US that I had forgotten how to “live” and “play”. I got in touch with my inner child again and made other people laugh. Among other things, that’s what I was missing: authentically embracing my quirks, making others smile, and allowing people back into my “bubble”.
The written work became just as stimulating as the visual work–reenergizing my creative spirit and reaffirming my research and beliefs within the projects I’ve been working on. It was a validating experience. It’s good to know that your work isn’t stupid or that you aren’t crazy for believing in something far-fetched. I needed that and the sense of a supporting community–that was paramount after being and working on my own alone for so long.
Time dilates when we experience new things. In that respect, when we chase down new experiences and time moves perceptively slower–perhaps even stopping without us knowing–we become (lunatics who spend way too much time with their dad consuming scifi media) time travelers.
And yes, I am giddier than one, Salacious B. Crumb saying that.
Infinite Temporal: Huntress, my current project, creates a non-linear story exploring time dilation. In it, a Huntress is loosely referenced, and she chases down new experiences through time and space to keep herself young. What this will look like when it’s finished, I have no idea. I still have three hundred square feet of wallpaper I made for an installation sitting in rolls under my bed. The visual work is accompanied by my writing on the subject: research, philosophies, and personal excerpts about experiencing time dilation and presence.
Katie: “Where can people find your art/what’s next for you?”
Alyssa: People can find my art in local exhibitions, on stages, online, in trees (hammocking in local parks), and in spirit. I’m opening up to the idea of doing pop-up shows and more commission work. As much as I have tried to pull away from social media and self-promotion, I’m seeing it more and more as a necessary evil. Consequently, I have a website now *gasps* that I’m updating with all of my works. Katie, please tell your readers to go easy on me, lol. The website isn’t 100% yet, and I’m an interdisciplinary artist, so trying to find the right mode to showcase my works hasn’t been easy. I haven’t had one in years because I didn’t see the feasibility of lumping my work together, and I’m too lazy to create separate accounts for each thing I do.
My website is running now for people to look at, make purchases on things I sell there, and to keep the public notified on my whereabouts, which are hopefully not lost in a forest ever again, but who knows..
The links to all of those platforms are listed here.
www.instagram.com/alyssamaurerphoto
www.threads.com/@alyssamaurerphoto
What’s next for me? Well, if you or someone you know is an employer, here’s my LinkedIn account because I’m actively looking for a job [laughing as I’m typing this]. I was terminated from my last position for “exhausting the point system” while on my “Once in a Lifetime Opportunity” in France. Yes, they tried calling me while I was away to terminate me, even after months of notice and telling them from my start date about this trip.
I don’t know what is to come next. I am leaving my head and my heart open for new and exciting opportunities, but the rest is a mystery that I’m eager to figure out in my own style. To take from Diderot, I’ll continue working as an unrelenting spirit
“First of all, move me, surprise me, rend my heart; make me tremble, weep, shudder, outrage me! Delight my eyes, afterwards, if you can… Whatever the art form, it is better to be extravagant than cold.” -Denis Diderot
For certain, I know I want to continue growing my metallurgical and welding skills at a new employer. I will be uploading work from this trip to my online platforms and doing freelance work like headshots and comedy shows until something more stable comes along. I will continue to sell upcycled goods (like the spoon rings I’ve made and limited edition art apparel) that I have made on those platforms in addition to art prints I intend to start selling. I will have work on display at the 29th Art All Night this year from this trip, which I’m excited to share. If your readers are planning on being in attendance, look out for my work and feel free to say “hello”.
I’m getting ready to submit to a couple of art calls/ competitions, and am taking steps towards seeking gallery representation. I know I would like to apply for more residencies in the future, but my eyes are set on scholarships and grant funding for bigger projects.
I want to do more with community outreach and volunteering. This trip reinstated my values in community and the blessings that come with supporting others. We’ll see where that goes. I reached out to former faculty about teaching again because I miss my students; they inspired and supported me so much in going to France that I think they are owed a “thank you” or “Professor Al Sequel”.
Finally, I am going to continue working on The Infinite Temporary as a larger, personal body of work. One of my cohorts, while at the residency (the one I did polar plunges with, Nick) said, “You need to keep working on this because there is something profound in it” and I think he’s right. The only way to know is to keep diving deeper.
