Details

Artist Statement

Hold, 9x9, fabric and thread

Hold Tight     

Together

On (until it’s safer, until we’re vaccinated, until it’s summer)

Space for BIG feelings

A baby

It in

Each Other

Me

This year was my first year in the fray of stay-at-home-artist-mother life (in the midst of a global pandemic, no less!). It has been full of life, brightness, space, and also on hold-- no in-person celebrations of our new baby, or our new teenager; the terrible togetherness where we can’t wait to be apart and miss each other at the same time. The needs of my older boys and our baby girl are ever before me, and as I think about mothering in this season the word that comes to mind is ‘hold’.

I’ve done a ton of holding this year- the literal holding of our new baby at all hours, for seemingly days on end; the holding space for my boys in their tween and teen angst - as they navigate this season of life in the midst of change and uncertainty and challenges. Holding myself together, attempting to meet my own needs as I care for my people is a daily process. As I thought about this theme of piecing together I wanted to represent the seemingly small, methodical, sometimes unexpected and random holding that makes up all of my days. As mothers we hold so much. As my children and I orbit around one another in our home, some days one of them needs more holding than another, sometimes my method of holding looks different, depending on their personalities and needs. This piece is a visual representation of that holding- the three different fabrics of my children, me the light green thread, trying mightily to hold us all together in a year where much fell apart and I feel “green” in my new/old mothering season. And in the times and spaces where I couldn’t keep it together on my own, there was the Artist Mother community - offering camaraderie, connection, and a reminder that I am not alone. I’m grateful for that holding, quietly in the background, the dark green of grounding down to grow, unbound by space and time. A reminder that in my newness growth will continue to come, even as I hold.