Bobbi Meier
On Being an artist and a mom:
When my kids were young I managed studio time by taking classes in the Continuing Studies Department at SAIC, going to Ox-Bow in the summer with my family for Family Camp every summer for 11 years and being involved with other parents who were artists. This was paramount as they understood the need for time to be an artist. We were also part of an artist-run pre-school for 3 years and have become life-long friends with that group of artist/parents.
I have been a mother for 35 years. It’s amazing to me that so much time has passed and all of my kids are settling into lives of their own. That’s a MAJOR goal realized! Making art that included our family was always very important for myself and my husband. Our involvement in a community of artist/parents helped us through the rough times of parenting and we took advantage of every opportunity to make work ourselves and include our kids when possible.
I have always been ambitious and continue to be when it comes to finding ways to make art. When I was in my early 40’s I went back to school to change careers from graphic design to artist/educator and earned my MA in Art Education in 2000. During my teaching career I was granted a sabbatical to work on my MFA, which had been my primary goal since our youngest child was born and was realized 19 years later!