Artist Residency in Motherhood

Since becoming a mother, my creative drive has been stronger than ever before, but at the same time I've never had more constraints on my time and freedom to make. I began finding ways to create visual art projects around childcare, which was how my 'Interference Pattern' embroideries came to be. The idea was that every time I began embroidering a square, I had to stop whenever the baby or motherhood interrupted me. I then had to start a new square the next time I had a chance, stopping when interrupted, and so on. On my daughter's first birthday, I embroidered the last square of Interference Pattern II (pictured below), which represents about 6 months of time. A ‘completed’ square (there are only about 3 in the whole piece) represents approximately 1 hour 15 mins of focussed sewing, to give you a sense of how limited creative time can be as a mother.

Just before completing Interference Pattern II, I had discovered the concept of the self-directed, virtual Artist Residency in Motherhood and decided to begin my own residency from home. I am going to try and see what I can achieve during naps and evenings up until the end of this calendar year. I will try to post updates here about my progress, too, though studio time will take priority over blog writing! Please do follow along.