The Mother Artist

I get asked all the time how I manage being a mother and an artist. With all the things that us mums need to manage on a regular day to day, it can often feel very overwhelming, overindulging and somewhat intimidating to even think about accessing the world of art as a mother.

However, If we look back to our ancestors, our bloodlines and cultures we will find that women are naturally creative. We made functional wares to use in our daily goings on, we will dress in art for ceremony, we will arrange flowers for the homes, build gardens, make jewellery for the kings, give offerings to the gods and so much more.

We craft for practicality, for ceremony, storytelling, for healing and for beauty.

We create life and the outlet that art gives us, comes from deep within our make up.

Nature is art and so are we. So with this thinking, this energy, art isn’t separate from us at all.

How do I give myself this time though to give art the space it needs? I do it because I need to and have made it part of our daily lives.

I create art alongside my children, with them in my lap, whilst she reads aloud to me, while she homeschools in my studio when I work. I create with them as part of our daily routine.

I show her why this is important, I show her that making time, telling my story, documenting my healing and creating is part of what we do.

She watches, engages, contributes, learns and inspires.

She is part of the process, she is my art.

And yes sometimes we struggle to find a balance between homeschooling, working and creating, but thats ok. Because we always return back to it somehow. We always find ways to show up for it with our daily activities.

Over the years my daughter has come to understand how deep my creative drive can be and she has learnt to hold space for that. In fact the whole family has. We have a beautiful relationship in that aspect.

Through this knowing and the relationship I have with my kids, they have all become artists themselves having been around art in their homes from the day they were born.

I hope for one day that this love and passion for art, clay in particular, will become part of a legacy, handed down over the generations.