Maybe you will find these things helpful. We know we sure did. If you’ve got any recommendations for us, get in touch!
Online articles / ebooks / audio
“The Artists Raising Kids Compendium.” “A report from our Artists Raising Kids project: 130 artist parents surveyed, 20 artist parents interviewed, and 50 artist parents convened for a workshop/conversation. Lots of crowd-sourced thinking from our surveys, and an overview essay of what we learned.”
“Broodwork: creative practice and family life.” Interesting discussion with the folks behind BROODWORK about their projects, and how being a parent changes how much creative work you do– and what the focus of it is.
“Making it what we need.” A fantastic (and pretty short) paper from Cultural Reproducers in Chicago. It’s a summary of a meeting in January, where creative parents talked about their concerns, and then split up into groups to plan how they could help each other and change things. It also includes a nice manifesto, and a list of things that would make future events easier for folks with kids.
“Procreativity 101: how to make art babies.” “Homeroom 101 co-founder Fred Sasaki comes on The Morning AMp to talk about his upcoming lecture, Procreativity 101, where he discusses how to be an artist and a parent. The segment includes Lise Haller Baggesen and Alberto Aguilar who will take part part in the lecture.”
Organizations and websites
Broodwork. A design/art group that “investigates the interweaving of creative practice and family life. BROODWORK’s multi-faceted approach of talking, blogging, designing, event-making, and curating exists to examine and illuminate, and also to foster an advantageous environment that will in itself stimulate innovation. ”
“The Center for Parenting Artists is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and sharing resources for artists with children. Our members represent all of the arts- painters, opera singers, actors, activists, theorists, and more. It is of vital importance to the arts community, and substantive thinking within our fields, that artists have longevity in their creative practice and represent varied life experiences.”
Cultural reproducers. Interviews with parents who are artists on how they do it. The organization also puts together events around these themes. Tim is currently obsessed with this website.
Books
“Broodwork: it’s about time.” Exhibition catalog for Broodwork’s show at Otis in Los Angeles. The show and book “explore what family life can provide to creative professionals. While having both a family and a productive creative practice is nothing new, the trend of honoring the synthesis of the two is a current phenomenon. ” Also available as a free PDF here.
“Divided heart.” “Australia’s most respected artists, writers and actors speak frankly about the wrench between motherhood and their artistic life.” [note: Amazon lists this at $250, but you can buy one for $20 direct from the publisher.]
“Invisible spaces of parenthood.” Discussions about being a parent and an artist. Interviews with caregivers about daycare. Essays on alternative approaches to tackling being a parent. [note: you can purchase this by emailing the gallery.]
“Propositions, Manifestos & Experiments is a risographed think-tank exploring the intersection of contemporary artmaking and family life through text and image from 28 international artists, published in glorious duotone by the collective Temporary Services with a centerfoldout poster of the Cultural ReProducers Manifesto. Due to the multilayered nature of the zine it was collated, folded and stapled by hand and there are just 400-ish copies in existence.”
“The M Word: Real Mothers in Contemporary Art.” This book “puts the most hallowed and fraught life relationship of all into the center of visual culture. Working through feminist ambivalence about motherhood (in all of its myriad and motley forms), this collection offers a crucial corrective to the dearth of discussions about life choices and living tensions for creative women in art and art discourse.”
Local events etc.
ICA Boston’s Play Dates. Free admission for families with kids on the last Saturday of every month.
how to be an artist and a parent? 