"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

"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

"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 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