artful life

last night i went to an artists discussion at a local art gallery. a few of my friends had pieces in the show. the curator, my friend sarah, spent the past year exploring art and motherhood, where she took and posted one photograph each day for the entire year. it was beautiful to spend the year with her and it made me think about how something i really value (art) has been put on hold during these early years of mothering. the discussion furthered those thoughts, validated the pause that mothering has placed on some of my art, and helped me see a bigger picture of the ebb and flow of expressing myself thru art.

prior to having children i didn't' really consider myself an artist. i did art. i did a lot of other non-art things too. i did them when i felt the need to create.

when i thought about what i wanted to be when i grew up my dream was always to be a mother. sadly, i romanticised that profession just a bit, so when the darlings came along i was in a bit of shock about how hard it really was to be a mother. exhausting. time-consuming. emotional. draining. lonely.

and i missed art. i no longer had the luxury of crafting when i felt the urge. i had an obligation to a little person and work with his schedule, which was a more than full-time job. if i had any extra time, i was usually exhausted, preferring to go to bed early rather than pull out an art project.

i no longer had as much choice to do what i wanted. yet i would hear the refrain, "you make room for what is important". yeah, and i'd like to take a shower more often too - am i just not prioritizing that too??

if art truly is important to me, i have to make time for it. and if it is important to me, i certainly want to pass that love along to my children. for that to happen, they have to actually see me DO art.

so i had to rethink art, how to do it and even what form of art to do now and which ones to keep on the back burner.

photography was easy - i would just take billions of photos of my delicious children. both my kids now love to take pictures.

arts and crafts have become more like junk art with the kids participation. the recycle bin is a treasure box of supplies, and recycling the kids art into new art has been a fun way to keep our collection at bay.

projects have to be short as our work space now will be our dinner table in a couple hours.

our craft supplies have replaced the linens and serving dishes in the built in buffet so that they are easy to get when we feel the need to transform the dining room table into a craft table, and can be stashed away quickly.

bigger projects are on hold. i don't have the space to keep a bigger ongoing project open, nor children with the self-control to leave it alone.

my knitting went on hold for a few years, but now we do handwork together. i work on my knitting or sewing while the kids do their handwork. weaving, hand sewing with a large needle, felting and a knitting machine (i think my grandmother had a similar gadget made from a spool). we sit together, help each other and talk.

other forms of art continue to wait for a season that can better support it; painting and quilting.

at the artist discussion last night one woman said, "having children was the most artistic expression i have ever done". i liked that. in fact, creating a person is art!