Mia's Installation
The latest installment in my series of interviews with parent-friends who happen to be artists (or artist-friends who happen to be parents?) Do their kids benefit from having an artist for a parent? Why or why not?
This from my friend Chris who’s a sculptor and stay-at-home dad in California:
I have two young kids ages 4 and 2. I am also not a young father. I had my first child at 38. So, I think theres a certain maturity to being that age as an artist with young children. So as an artist, I think I try to have some consistency while allowing constant chaos, madness and creativity – just like my own practice
Chris mentioned to me that he often has his kids in his studio with him:
My daughter plays in the studio with her chalks and also makes little installations of acorns, woods, and pine cones -whatever she can find lying around. She inspired my latest work of coloring wood with graphite. She had one day started coloring a wood piece with her chalk and I asked her what she was doing. She said “I’m making art.” And sure enough I had a pencil in my hand doing the same thing.
I really love that idea, and have tried it (with mixed results…) I would love to have my kids in the studio, making their own work, but O. in particular is sometimes hesitant to draw. And Chris writes:
My son tried very hard to draw everything, but got frustrated. I would draw a figure with ease and he couldn’t help but be frustrated watching me. I had to step back and be somewhat careful not to hamper his desire to draw. And so I encourage him to continue to draw. It has taken him awhile til he is able to draw without restriction and frustration. He enjoys it and can sit down and concentrate on it.
I think that’s what’s going on with my son, too! The activities at Free First Saturdays have been great for O — they’re facilitated by someone else (not me) and they’re something new & different than what he’d do at home — good encouragement for him to try something new.
I am an artist and an older Mom. I had my daughter at 43 (my last egg I think) “Advanced Maternal Age”it said on my chart. That was fun. My daughter is 9 now. My husband is also an artist so the talk about older parents being financially secure was out the window. We always worked just enough to have money to live on and spent the rest of time making our art. At age 50 I began thinking “Hey I have a daughter. Maybe I should get a job with benefits” So after free lancing all these years I made the momentous move and got a STATE JOB…with benefits. What a concept. I had huge identity issues when I first started to work. I had little time to do my art. I still have a hard time balancing the roles of mother,wife, daughter and artist. I realized that I was not one of those people who could do everything. I could only do some things and complained the rest of the time. But now things have evened out a little bit and I am doing my art a little more regularly. I was bracing for my daughter to be interested in sports or something else I could not relate to, but she has always loved to make things. I am worried that we are not financially stable but I think she is very happy. She is used to going to openings and being around artists. Now that she is older, she helps me set things up for my videos. (I do video art and my videos incorporate live action and puppetry.) In my last one “The New Job” http://www.mysterydinosaur.com/ she is the voice of one of the characters Alvin, and she did a great job! My mother says, “Oh no…she’s going to be an artist” All I can say is, she is the best thing my husband and I have made.
Comment by Fae Yamaguchi — April 8, 2009 @ 2:31 am