So pleased to have been in this wonderful show at Soil Seattle with my work about Redwood trees, time travel, distance , anxiety and childcare.
‘‘Always On: Art and Motherhood is an exhibition that highlights the work of artists who are mothers and work additional jobs outside the home. The work presented here is not the work that gets made during coveted studio time, but rather made in a space more in-between. A space that is rarely their own, where multiple things are happening at the same time and occupying the same mental, physical, and emotional space. Ideas conceived and made while nursing, during a lunch break from work, or a walk to the park with kids in tow. This work is raw, honest, ironic, funny, and emotionally charged. It sometimes feeds into real “work” but oftentimes remains private, which speaks to a larger and more universally shared experience of artists/mothers inventing new ways to stay connected to the act of making beyond the traditional walls of a studio.
Originally conceived before the pandemic, this exhibition has taken on a new layer of meaning for many of these artists. Studio time, which was hard fought before the pandemic, became almost non-existent for many of them and the in-between time became compressed even further by additional layers of isolation, homeschooling, and complications of child care and employment in a pandemic. We are honored to have space for this work to be seen and to center the perspectives of artists/mothers at such a unique time in history. ‘‘
Kelda Martensen and Paula Rebson.
