Tracy Marie Taylor
On being an artist and a mother
It took me about five months before I was able to make any art and I am sure it would have taken longer had I not been blessed to be on a sabbatical from my teaching position, [the terms of which] put needed pressure on me to get working again.
I found motherhood consumed every aspect of my being, so it only made sense to start making art that was in-line with where my head was.
I am a more ambitious artist since becoming a parent, although not in a careerist sense, but just in a desire to make work again. Mostly this is because years of failed fertility treatments depleted my soul and left me extremely depressed. I simply didn’t have the emotional energy to make art anymore. Becoming a mother has completely lifted that fog of depression and allowed me to get excited about making art again.