Jessica Labatte
On being an artist and a mom:
The more present I was when I was with my child, the more inspired I felt when I was back at work in the studio. The curiosity, playfulness, and sense of wonder you experience when you are encountering the world with a small child nurtures the curiosity, play, and wonder that feeds you as an artist. Also, the more windows of time I had to myself in the studio, the more present and focused I could be with my child. When I didn't carve out daily chunks of studio time, I was definitely more anxious about being both a mother and an artist. I also found that the boredom and routines that come along with tending an infant can create a daily routines that allowed me to slowly but surely generate new thoughts and new work. In an amazing way the fragmented moments and constant distraction helped with my creativity. Recently, I found this quote by Ruth Asawa that perfectly reinforces this mindset,
"You should do a little bit at a time. It's important to learn how to use your small bits of time. All those begin to count up. It's not the long amounts of time you have that are important. You should learn how to use your snatches of time when they are given to you."