After becoming a mother, my art began to change as my role in the world became radically different. What influenced me changed and so did my art making process as the responsibilities of a life caring for a household, a child and a husband took hold. The disparity between the lifestyle and mind set of being a college educated, career women and the skill set and attitude needed to successfully render the tasks of homemaking created a tension that affected my art.

Instead of hours in the studio, time for working had to be stolen in the minutes between care giving tasks. I began to participate in traditional crafts, like needle point, as a way to continue some form of creative output within this disjointedness. Unlike my painting, these crafts could be picked up and put down a dozen times a day and I could make progress with the bits of time allotted to me.

Craft work, long overlooked as serious creative expression in the art world, has a history as a traditionally female art form and it is with these activities that I found myself landing. These crafts, such as quilting, usually culminated in a utilitarian, household good. As I participated in these art forms I began to wonder if the underlying motivation to make crafts useful was in order to validate its being done in the first place. Was the common choice of using leftovers and scraps for medium not out of pure thriftiness but as a way not to attract attention to ones commitment to creativity? Without a societal mark of legitimacy like saleability, were my female ancestors trying to find a way to make art without being accused of self indulgence? This question of commitment to the one’s mother role continues into today, as frequent debates about “stay at home” versus “working” mothers attests.

I also experience the paradox of being a mother in a society that touts family values but is not supportive of women. The project I have dedicated most of my time to, that challenges me the most and that demands the most of my creative energy turns out to be raising my child. More than anything else I have a hand in creating, this “project” has the potential to make the most impact on society. So, why do I feel a blush of shame when I get identified as a homemaker? How does a woman who grew up in the age of women’s liberation, who went to college and pursued a career, then face the responsibilities of motherhood, including selflessness, mind numbing monotony, and unending work without monetary compensation or societal appreciation?

How I attempt to reconcile the tension between my commitment to raise a healthy child, my need to make art and the fact that parts of my creative output are not valued in my society is what this body of work is about.

The selections shown do not encompass the entire collection.

OH FATHER
acquired thread, needle point canvas and fabric / 19" x 14"
A nod to the patriarchal world and the tension between wanting to fulfill personal aspirations and still be a mother. I stitched this and Cents On The Dollar only during the minutes I sat waiting in my car for afternoon dismissal at my child's school. Materials were achieved through bartering.

CENTS ON THE DOLLAR
acquired thread, needle point canvas and fabric / 15" x 10"
A recent newspaper article reported that college educated women are backsliding in terms of how much they are paid in comparison to a comparably educated and experienced man.

MY DAUGHTER IS AN ARTIST
acquired wool strips and monks cloth / 33"x14"
While my artistic output waned, my daughter drew prolifically and created daily. She became the primary art producer in our house. The subject of this rug are images she drew that I then transferred to monks cloth and hooked in traditional, primitive style. Whose art does the viewer see when looking at this piece; her's or mine?

WHERE MOMMY KEEPS HER SECRETS
acquired mixed media
A triptych of three cookbooks whose insides reveal hiding spaces. One space holds love letters, one holds a vibrator and the last holds a burned bra.

EAT ME: the dinner plate series - #3197
acrylic paint on paper / 15" x 22" , one in a series
I calculated that I have created over 3000 dinner time meals in my ten plus years as a wife and mother. I consider each meal I make to be a small creative triumph, yet my meals don't prompt consideration when attributing notice to my creative output as an artist. When I place a plate of food that I have prepared on the table, it is not seen as an artist accomplishment. I wondered if, as a painting of that same meal, would people then see it as art.

STORE BOUGHT
photograph / 5"x7"
I once caught myself wondering how the other mothers would perceive me if I brought a store bought cake for the school carnival cake walk instead of making one myself.

MR. PRESIDENT GOES SPORTS FISHING
acrylic on paper / 46” x 40”
My daughter loves pretty dresses, flowers, dolphins and fairies. She is innocent and full of hope and love. I am sad and disgusted about the political agenda in our country. I get especially upset when I consider what the world will be like for my daughter as she grows up. How better to vilify George Bush and his administration then to render him sports fishing for baby dolphins.