How to be an artist and a parent at the same time

In the following link, several artists pose their perspective of what it is to be an artist and a parent at the same time. They talk about their personal experience of being a parent and an artist.

https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/guide/how-to-be-an-artist-and-a-parentat-the-same-time-55464?utm_source=social&utm_campaign=facebook

I have heard that there was a common belief that being an artist and a parent do not go together. However, I considered this very absolute and therefore not very artistic. Art for me includes great sense of freedom and acceptance of diversity and a notion so absolute and unilateral would not fit the qualities of art. I believe being an artist is something more than being at the forefront of the artistic community on its business side. At the same time I do not believe that being a parent would prevent you from succeeding in this sector of art. As a student of art I do not have the experience of a professional artist, but I have the experience of a mother that art is a part of my daily life at the same time that motherhood is. On one hand I face the practical difficulties of having to take care and nurture little humans while practicing art even as a student. On the other hand I experience that the identities of artist and parent function additively and complement each other. They have a dynamic relationship. What if no artist was a parent at the same time. How would this important part of human existence would be represented and evolved through the artistic creation? Also, how a possible artistic gene would inherit through generations?

What if Mary Kelly, who offered art such an extensive artistic exploration of motherhood, and so many other artists-parents, didn’t become a parent? Wouldn’t art be poorer?

 

Project 1: A changing scene, Part 5

Aim: Understand how to approach the drawing of a changing scene in order to be able to record movement while balancing movement and form to create a dynamic image. Go beyond trying to pin the action down to a static conclusion.

Method: Make a drawing of a changing scene with plenty of movement. You my be or not be able to build up a convincing representation of the scene. Build up the drawing with dynamic energy, capturing a sense of time lapse , while keeping focus and capture movement through mark making as accurately as possible.

This exercise brings to my mind the work of the artist Giacomo Balla(1871-1958), a futurist Italian artist who depicted light, movement and speed in his painting. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Balla).

Giacomo Balla, Girl Running on a Balcony 1912

Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash 1912

In my sketchbooks, several times, I work on capturing movement and changing scenes. Many times I drew my daughter at her rhythmic gymnastics classes.

For the exercise I chose to draw a scene that this time of the year I observe on a daily basis. That is a lot of children including mine in and around the swimming pool!

I started with a few sketches in order to check the scale and the  medium.

149 x 210mm , 2B pencil

210 x 297mm, 2B pencil

210 x 297mm, pen (pigment ink)

297 x 420mm, pen(pigment ink)

The smaller paper sizes didn’t work very well as my movement was restricted and this made the marking of the constant movement difficult. I think the A3 size paper is the most convenient for me at this point as I think in a bigger paper I would find it difficult to keep the composition coherent. However I should try it and see how it would actually be. Regarding the medium, I believe for this project at this point I feel more confident to draw with a pencil rather than with pen. Again I should also try pen in a subsequent attempt of this exercise to see how I could control it.

For the moment, I chose A3 size paper and 2B pencil for the drawing of this exercise.

sketch, pencil, 297x420mm

final piece, pencil, 297x420mm

I had a very positive experience drawing this subject. I was absorbed in the process without thinking about the outcome. I like abstract rather than representational work and the aim of this exercise matched my preference. In the procedure I decided to use also 4B pencil to intensify some areas and make the composition more solid.

I am satisfied with the experience and the outcome. I think my drawing has energy, freedom of movement and captures the dynamism of the changing scene. At the same time there is depth in the picture created by the straight and receding lines that give perspective and also because of the more bold and descriptive mark making in the foreground.

Indeed, later on, I tried making drawings with pen. Drawing this subject with pen proved to be even more fulfilling and rewarding than drawing it with pencil. There is more dynamism in the picture and the boldness of the medium creates a more solid final image.

sketch,pen, 297×420 mm

final piece, pen, 297x420mm

 

“Women house”

I found an article about an exhibition called “Women House ” on view March 9–May 28, 2018 in National Museum of Women in the Arts (https://blog.nmwa.org/tag/women-house/). I thought that this might be relevant to my parallel project. It also brought to my mind Mary Kelly’s “love songs ” work.

 

Ana Vieira’s Ambiente/Sala de Jantar (Environment/Dining Room), 1971, showed in the “Women House” exhibition is a room size sculpture or three – dimensional painting. It was made at a time that women rebelled against lack of space for work and exhibition as well as symbolic space for recognition. The artist states that she did this work 3 dimensional so that the spectators experience the work also with their bodies. The sculpture is inviting spectators with clues to connect but they are not allowed to enter. This way it raises questions about the differences of public and private space. (https://blog.nmwa.org/2018/05/26/women-house-construction-as-self-construction/,  http://anavieira.com/en/work/1971-1980/sala-de-jantar-ambiente-13/,  http://anavieira.com/documents/anavieira_entrevista_hans-ulrich-obrist_ENG.pdf)

 

 

Ana Vieira’s Ambiente/Sala de Jantar (Environment/Dining Room), 1971

Mary Kelly’s Love Songs, 2005-2007

Mary Kelly’s Love Songs, 2005-2007 refers to the same period of time although the work is afterward. This work explores sexual politics which is the artist ongoing interest. This work contrary to Ana Vieira’s Environment, invites the viewers to enter the work and participate to a dialogue between the past and present referent to 1970’s activism and today’s condition on that matter (http://www.marykellyartist.com/love_songs.html).

The information I got from researching the above two works was interesting and widen my options on how to view this kind of works, that are not merely sculptures. I perceive this kind of works as multi dimensional works and could be called drawings with the wide definition that we explore in Investigating Drawing course. In ”The Drawing Book, a survey of drawing: the primary means of expression edited by Tania Kovats” it is mentioned how “This re-evaluation of the special attributes of drawing and their application to all manner of working methods is key to the changing and elevated status of the medium” (p 15).

Regarding any associations with my Parallel Project I didn’t find direct relation with the works commented above. The methods I use so far are mostly two dimensional and my subject is mostly about relationships and identity rather than feminine politics. Despite that, I realize that feminine politics might be present in a way as my identities  and relationships are not formed in a a vacuum , but within the social circumstances of my time and place. Ana VIeira’s work as well as Mary Kelly’s work both explore art from the woman perspective which is also true for me and my liminal artistic explorations  and quests.

Narrative art

In my research about narrative art I found the following article written by Paul Barolsky. (www.bu.edu/arion/volume-18-barolsky-narrative-art/)

It starts with the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein “What can be shown cannot be said.”

Generally the author states that artist do not narrate stories in the same way that writers do. It is also stated that reading literature is a linear procedure, on the contrary we  view a picture or a sculpture in multiple ways  following the different directions in which the image directs our gaze.

In my parallel project I aim at showing in a depicted way states of mind and feelings in a rough , raw, un-wrought way. For me it is a philosophical and psychological exploration of my identity through the relationships that interplay in everyday life and the course of family life. It is not a telling of a story in a progressive chronicle way. It is as I understand it a different way of narrating. What I try to put in images I could not tell in words. however I have a few poems that I write that I could integrate in my imagery in order to give some clues on what I try to transmit visually.