"I try not to be slavish in representing the city precisely at a moment in time. Cities change and I love this...studying old maps through time to see those changes is fascinating and revealing. An emotional tie to a city is usually what brings clients to commission a map from me and my job is to capture the essence of the city - it's shape, iconic landmark sites and relationships between land, water, topography. I love feeling that I am having some intimate moments with a city as my brush traces the corners of each block, then fills it in. I am imagining what buildings are there, who owns the land, what kind of history is held in this block. Sometimes I know, but often I am just imagining. The whole experience transports me to another place - this city, but my lived and imaginary experience of this city." - Kirsten Sparenborg
"One day I received a hand written letter from an old client that I worked with on many commissions. She expressed her sadness that I was no longer painting. That shocked me. The idea that abandoning my work was affecting someone else hadn’t ever occurred to me. Her words would remain with me for a long time." - Laura Browning
"I’m proud of being an artist. I like showing my children that you don’t have to rely on someone else to make your dreams come true. I’m showing them that they can take an idea and run with it; they are only limited by their own imaginations. I want to show them that doing your own thing takes a huge amount of planning and discipline. They see that dedication and thought-process…and I hope it fuels their own dreams and passions. I also like that they see I am also a PERSON and not just 'Mom'." - Megan Carty
"Though my head is in constant 'idea' mode, in reality I have very simple desires when it comes to my art and my hopes for the future. I just want to keep creating, to keep finding those precious snippets of time and drive that keep me popping into my little studio when my boys aren't looking. Whether it's a mere 5 minutes or a luscious 30 minute stretch in the early morning, I want to keep adding those shark fin marks, unrestrained scribbles, pops of color and hints of pizzazz to my works. I want to continue to buy tubes of glorious paint, reams of textured watercolor paper and Neocolor II crayons and I want my artwork to continue to evolve as I grapple with new techniques, processes and mediums. " -Melanie Roach
"there have been a lot of ebbs and flows in terms of my creative process. I think I have actually been more prolific since having children as it’s as if I feel more of an urgency to make and create in the time I’ve been given, generally once the kiddies are asleep! It has forced my work to move on a smaller scale too and more recently have been using watercolours as they are way to pack away and quick to dry. " -Paula McGurdy
"I think my children have made me a better person, a better artist. They have taught me so much and made me remember what it is like to be a child and how to drop things that aren't important. And to be and to see. And there is nothing like the love I feel for them. They hopefully look at us and go, "Oh my God what fools, I'm getting a PROPER job". Hahahhahahahahah. So, not sure if my art has made them better." -Monika Forsberg
"I made the decision to raise my own children and did not want to compromise. So in order to be able to accomplish that, my thought process and creative process sometimes took place while I was away from my studio. The idea is that when I sat down to actually work, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do." - Maura Segal
"I think showing children what it means to be creative is a priceless lesson, especially in today's world where we need creativity. We encourage children to go into STEM fields, not realizing how much creativity is needed to be in those professions, denigrating the part that the arts and humanities play in our lives and in culture as a whole." - Julia Rymer
"Luckily I’ve found that working in small bursts here and there does have its benefits (despite sometimes being frustrating). I’ve realised it’s good to have plenty of time to reflect on a painting in between stages; it helps to ‘live’ with it for a day or two and come back to it with fresh eyes to build up the colours. Also I think having limited time really pushes me to be bold and take risks; there simply isn’t time to procrastinate." - Emily Harrison
"I LOVE that I’ve spent the last year showing how artists with kids can thrive and find time to create. It rarely enters my head that it’s extraordinary now, because I know people who make it work every day. I WANT it to become normal that women can create or do what they love, kids or no kids. I want to banish the mom guilt. I want the next generation and the mother struggling now and people wondering if they can have kids and be an artist say - WE GET IT. YOU CAN BE A MOTHER AND STILL MAKE ART." - Marissa Huber
"The project made me accountable to myself and also showed me that a whole body of work can be made a little at a time… it all adds up to something if you just keep at it. It also forced me to sit down and do the work, even when I wasn’t inspired or in the mood. I work very well with boundaries and parameters, and I have figured out how to make that work for me." - Cassandra Ott
"Somehow once you hit the bottom, the choice seems easier. Stay there forever in the dark or get the heck out. It was now or never. Was I going to live this one precious creative life, or let it slip past, catalogued only by those angry late night doodles (and 3 amazing children!)? I picked up a pencil one day and started to draw (or maybe claw) my way up to where I am now. It’s been hard work. I committed to myself to draw every day, good drawing or not, and just keep going! That was 5 years ago now! I have wavered constantly, especially in confidence, but I’ve rediscovered my own style, and now I feel confident and strong in it. I paint every day and sell my work all the time. I can’t actually express the joy of it! I don’t know – and I do know – why it took me so long to make time for myself. But it is a dream come true. (At last!)." - Trudi Murray
"I am still very new to parenting, but I think it is important for my son to see that I have a creative life of my own. I am a strong believer in kids having alone time to play (sans technology) and let their imagination run wild, and I think I will set an example by showing him that I have my own personal time to be creative. I hope they will take away that even as an adult, they can aspire to continually use their imagination and creativity." - Jessica Levitz
"One thing I know for sure about myself, deep down inside to be true, is that I can always paint myself out of a corner. When you have creativity and know how to use it, the possibilities are endless. You are never stuck for long. I hope my daughter can grow up to value creativity. To know that it is something of incredible value and importance. To know that it should be nourished and no matter what your interest or calling, being creative makes your life experiences all that much more rich. To be able to appreciate art and create is to be truly free. " - Lisa Anderson Shaffer of Zelma Rose
Pre-kids, I was a nuclear medicine technologist and breakdancing was my creative outlet. I stumbled into painting in the fall of 2014, a few months after my second child was born. I wanted to create an art piece for our home and I thought, "hey let me just create some abstract art, because it couldn't be that hard right". I was in for a rude awakening of course. I laugh at myself whenever I think about this." -Yumi Phillips
"I am a big fan of kids learning to play on their own. I often tell them I am not a circus clown and I can not entertain you all the time. We have plenty of moments and times that are just about us being together and doing family things, but I have to grab time and space where I can. I am always present, but I am a do-er and I find it hard to stop in the middle of things create activities. Luckily my children were raised this way and they get it, they get me, and we do our best to communicate that. It works most of the time." -Heather Chontos
"I also need to say that my answers to these questions are all true. However, I have hours, days, and even weeks where I forget what I truly believe. Where I forget what I have told myself over and over again. Days where I feel immense mother /parent guilt for not being the “perfect parent,” which does not exist. Hours where I mentally put myself in a fetal position and have a pity party, with my self doubt as the honored guest. (FYI this pity party happens about once per month.) And I can’t tell you how many times I have yelled at my husband that I think I should just give up on art. So, with that said, I advise you that no matter what answer you are looking for, or from where these answers are coming from, above all have compassion for yourself and your craft. Listen to the answers and know that they are not an end, but a constant practice." - Megan Gray
"There is this stigma that moms have to be perfect and the earth and moon have to revolve around their children. My world definitely shifted when I had my son and I think the pressure to be the best mom even paralyzed me. I feel like I failed myself and my family, early on, by denying myself time away to be an artist. I know now that it is a good thing to be selfish sometimes. It shows your family that you care about yourself. After almost five years of pressuring myself I finally set aside time to create." - Krista Rothwell
"I’m shifting to only working or volunteering during the school hours and taking care of the household business at other times. For me, painting is a form of creating that is more free, it’s not tied to my business and I tend to be more inspired in the evenings to paint. I also feel it sets a good example to my family of doing something analog, I love for my son to see me not working and being more playful." - Jessica Nichols
"I feel like I have empathy for what it’s like to be a child. It’s hard work learning new things, trying to find out who you are and what you are good at and I feel like I go through that all the time. Also when I tell my kids you need to practice to be good at something, I am showing them that everyday. Plus they see how hard I work AND that I enjoy what I am doing. They also see the lows of when I don’t get a project that I wanted or win a contest that I entered. To show them how you can handle the ups and downs of life is a valuable lesson." - Terri Fry Kasuba
