Living A Balanced Life
Living a balanced life – as a woman and an artist is extraordinarily challenging. Being both passionate about my work and my children, making sure there is enough time for people I love… Writing is just one more thing. So…no blog entry for a while.
I remember early on feeling like I wasn’t a REAL artist because I wasn’t in the studio all the time. When my kids were younger I didn’t see the men who were artists driving field trips at school or doing block building. Their wives were. It was a choice. A choice I don’t regret. But there are so many times that bodies of work never came into fruition simply because of hours in the day. This is still true today. Unless you are one of the fortunate artists that is able to sell work at a price that pays for the mortgage, sends the kids to school…you have to do other things, which takes you away from your work. This is without even considering time for producing work, shipping, office work, let alone the creative process! Buying the groceries and doing the laundry happens at 6am or 1am respectively.
I have taken daggers for not producing work in constant succession. “Was that a One off? Are you a serious artist?” It’s difficult. The choices that a woman has to make and CAN make are different I think. We are able to hold so many realities at once.
I can drop everything and shift gears – but at a price. There is a toll that gets taken. The powerful desire to nurture pulls away from the desire to nurture the work. Is it selfish to demand time in the studio when your friend or mother or child NEEDS you? I don’t think men operate this way. My daughter just returned from India which was extraordinary and transformational, my sculpture classes are ROCKIN’, I have a show opening in New York in August and an article coming out in October/November. Everything’s great. BUT there’s never enough time to JUST WORK.
So if you are in New York, the exhibit I just participated in last May has made its way to HP Garcia Gallery, 580 Eight Avenue @ 38th Street, New York 10018. The opening reception is on Wednesday, August 4th from 6-9pm. See the press release below for more information!
