I spent the first two years of parenthood reading everything I could about parenthood and creativity. I still couldn’t find the book I was looking for so I wrote my own – a massive manuscript that became two books and two art journals. Below you’ll find my research rabbits holes as well as my own books.
I spent six years on this project from first draft to fruition. Along the way it became an anthology and became a collaboration between twenty nine mothers.
Entwined weaves together stories from mothers in United States, Mexico, Canada, England, Qatar, and M’chigeeng First Nation. Every mother has their own creative ecosystem. By sharing our stories we hope to inspire you to entwine creativity and motherhood in your own way.
Contributors include painters, writers, potters, visual artists, musicians, poets, and multipassionates: Alexa Villanueva, Anong Migwans Beam, Autumn Fox, Bethany Howard, Christina Renee, Claire Venus, Emily Perron, Faith Shaw, Hayley J. Dunlop, Joanna Wolfarth, Jocelyn Mathewes, Lauren Oakey, Lindsey Smith, Lisa Mabberley, Mariah Friend, Marisa Pahl, Marina Gross-Hoy, Megan Driving Hawk, Natalie Ward, Odeta Xheka, Shelley Wallace, Sheree Mack, Susan Chiang, Vanessa Novissimo Wright, and Zoe Gardiner.
Cover art is by Twiggy Boyer. Creative Team includes: Sarah Shotts, Jessica Allowski & Emily Jalinsky.
Further Reading
Affiliate links are to Bookshop.org
Purchases support an indie bookstore of your choice.
Overwhelm & Burnout
All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership by Darcy Lockman
Dads Don’t Babysit: Towards Equal Parenting by David Freed & James Millar
Burn Out: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski & Emily Nagoski
Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte
Mothers
ARiM (Artist’s Residency in Motherhood) by: Lenka Clayton was a pilot light that kept my creativity going in early motherhood. Clayton describes ARiM as “a self-directed, open-source artist residency to empower and inspire artists who are also mothers.”
Artist/Mother Podcast has nearly 200 interviews with mother artists about their creative process. Some of my favorite episodes include: Christa David, Natalie Baxter, Lauren McLaughlin, Adrienne Brown David, and Lauren Frances Evans.
Spilt Milk Gallery is a social enterprise whose mission is to promote the work of artists who identify as mothers, and to empower mothers in the community through artist-led activities.
Sharon Walters on Talk Art Podcast.
The Motherhood of Art is a celebration of mother artists by authors Marissa Huber and Heather Kirtland. It spotlights the creative process of thirty-three mother artists alongside stunning photographs from their lives and studios.
Dads & Nonbinary Parents
We need a lot more spaces for parents to connect outside the gender binary.
Here are some books by creative dads.
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
And nonbinary parents.
The Natural Mother of the Child (A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood) by Krys Malcolm Belc
Like a Boy But Not a Boy by Andrea Bennett
Ember
Ember is an art journal companion to the Entwined anthology. It presents a variety of creative prompts (writing, observation, ideating, dreaming, and making) to help parents kindle their creative sparks.
There are two versions Ember for Parents & Ember for Mothers.
Cover art is by: Annie King. Creative Team includes: Sarah Shotts, Jessica Allowski, Jocelyn Mathewes & Emily Jalinsky.
Creativity
The following books aren’t about parenting, but I found them very helpful whilst weaving together parenthood & creativity.
The Crossroads of Should & Must by Elle Luna
Conscious Creativity by Philippa Stanton
Learning by Heart by Corita Kent
All Along You Were Blooming by Morgan Harper Nichols
Start Where You Are by Meera Lee Patel
Sparked by Jonathan Fields
The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson
The Gifts of Imperfection & Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell (This is a very dense academic read.)
The Artist’s Way & The Right to Write by Julia Cameron (I think we need to give ourselves more grace than Julia does – particularly during early motherhood. But her writing is still an integral part of my creative lineage.)
Discover Your Creative Ecosystem
Discover Your Creative Ecosystem was written as a reaction to The Artist’s Way during my first year of motherhood. I wrote the first draft as I rebuilt my creative process from the ground up. The book is a holistic exploration of creativity through the lens of nature. Explore what gives and drains your energy. Balance structure and freedom. Build boundaries and support structures. And embrace seasons and cycles in your creative life.
Digital Resources
The origin of the term “mental load.”
Unravel Your Year (FREE workbook) by Susannah Conway
The Five Minute Garden Approach by Laetitia Maklouf
To Be a Mother is to Be Constantly Interrupted by Michele Gregoire Gill
Manifesto for Maintenance Art by Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Articles & Academic Studies
How Arts Can Improve Your Mental Health
The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature
Men Do More at Home, But Not as Much as They Think (NY Times, Gifted)
Redistribute Unpaid Work (UN Women)
How Mierle Laderman Ukeles Turned Maintenance Work into Art
Neuroconsequences of Sleep Deprivation
Poor Sleep Quality Linked to Postpartum Depression
Romantic Relationships Take a Dive After Baby Arrives
How To Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Feminist researchers have also found that many women don’t feel that they deserve long stretches of time to themselves, the way men do.” (Woman’s Greatest Enemy is the Lack of Time to Herself, The Guardian.)
The best thing ever written about work life balance. (Austin Kleon)
Brigid Schulte: Why time is a feminist issue
Memoirs
Notes on a Life by Eleanor Coppola
The Blue Jay’s Dance by Louise Eldrich
The Natural Mother of the Child (A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood) by Krys Malcolm Belc
Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin
The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May
The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits
Growing Gills by Jessica Abel
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Like a Boy But Not a Boy by Andrea Bennett
Happy Mum Happy Baby by Giovanna Fletcher
Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
I’d love to hear your recommendations. Or to swap books with other parent artists. Reach out here.
Cheers,
P.S. Here are some breadcrumbs I didn’t trace to their source.
“I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
Out of Solitude by Henri J. Nouwen
(Emphasis mine. I think this may have unconsciously played a role in inspiring Mother, Interrupted.)
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“In the documentary Look & See, Wendell Berry talks about how he thinks art-making is actually given meaning by interruption. Here’s writer Winn Collier’s recollection of a discussion with Berry on the topic: You have been given a gift to help you resist the temptation to believe that your writing must never be interrupted. The modern idea that our art must always come first and never be interrupted is complete BS. I can’t live that way with my land. When you have a mule and it needs something, you can’t tell it to wait. I can’t tell Tanya to wait. I couldn’t tell my kids to wait, I still can’t most times. I can’t help but be interrupted by my neighbor. Now, I have some ways of being unfindable when I have to be, but I’m going to be interrupted.”
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“The most potent muse of all is our inner child.” Stephen Nachmanovitch
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“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.” C. G. Jung