—Arshia Simkin, The Underline
Carrboro’s My Muses Card Shop has been receiving some recognition lately: In 2023, they won the “Best Place to Buy Locally Made Art” category in the Indy Week’s Best of the Triangle competition; in 2024, they were recognized as a “2024 Micro Enterprise Business of the Year” as selected by the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro. My Muses sells a variety of goods—including the eponymous cards—jewelry, art supplies, journals, candles and more. They also offer classes and events, and they’ve newly opened an art gallery next door.
The owner, Abhi Sivadas, opened My Muses in 2019, with an eye toward blending his creative interests and educational background: Sivadas is a classically trained artist in painting who also has a degree in business. But Sivadas’ primary motivation for opening the shop springs from a more deeply rooted belief than simple pragmatism: “the core principle of the shop is beauty,” he said. During his artistic training in his home country of India, Sivadas apprenticed with master painters, who reinforced the notion that “the highest purpose of art is to elevate the consciousness,” Sivadas said. For painting, this could mean using sacred proportions, geometry, or mathematics to tune into the sacred, Sivadas explained. For the shop, this means that Sivadas curates objects “that bring curiosity or excitement…essentially [asking]—is it helping to elevate you?” he said.
In addition to this core principle of beauty, Sivadas emphasized the importance of community: “I didn’t just want to start a business. I wanted to have a space where we could come together,” he said. He prides himself on curating many local, handcrafted, and ethically sourced products. For local products, Sivadas loves getting an opportunity to meet the artists in person so that he can understand their story—“it’s more than selling a product. What is the idea behind the product?” Sivadas said. For Sivadas, it’s crucial that both he and the artists feel good about working together; as an artist himself, he understands how important it is for artists to feel seen and as a curator of goods, he aims to offer products that he himself would want to buy.
My Muses also offers events and workshops, such as classes in watercolor, pet portraiture, sound baths, yoga, meditation, book binding, calligraphy and more. For Sivadas, the throughline amongst all of the classes are the ways in which they enhance one’s creativity and connection to the self.
Most recently, My Muses has added a space next to the shop for showcasing local art, called the “Muse Gallery.” According to the My Muses’ website, in addition to being a physical space for showcasing art, the gallery is a “teaching, and creative space that highlights local artists and uplifts the arts as a way of life.” The gallery will host a new artist every six months; the inaugural exhibit is Cindy K. Smith’s photographs of nature, titled “Transcendence,” which will run until December 31, 2024. The photographs feature North Carolina flora and fauna, including animals such as egrets, sea turtles, and horses, landscapes, and closeups of rainbow-colored scallop shells, leaves, and cacti. Smith’s artist’s statement says, in part, “I believe that photographs have the ability to capture moments that create memories of a time that will never again pass our way.” Sivadas concluded: “I knew that when I opened the space, art and community would be a huge element.”
Learn more about My Muses Card Shop on their website https://www.mymusescardshop.co/; on Instagram @my.muses.card.shop; and YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@mymusescardshop.
See upcoming events and workshops at https://www.mymusescardshop.co/events/
