Building creativity into our daily lives.
A reflection of why creative practice feels important right now, parenting and weaving art-making into our daily lives.
How do you parent, work, be involved in your kids school life (or home educate) and still maintain your own creative practice?
I have no idea! I have no definitive answers or sage advice.
Sometimes it feels like I have no space in my head for my own thoughts and ideas, let alone quiet time to pursue my own creative practice. Often the message we hear from those in the parenting advice world is that ‘you need to carve out time for yourself’ or ‘you need to look after yourself first in order to be the best parent you can’. I’m not saying this is bad advice, in fact it would be wonderful to have more time to myself, but it just isn’t possible for everyone. Some of us, myself included, have children who, due to neurodiversity or health issues, require more of our time and support. Some may have financial insecurity meaning they need to work extra jobs whilst also caring for a family. Others might have no family or community support to lighten the load. All of these things mean it can be difficult to find the time to pursue our own interests, hobbies or even finish reading a book. For me, the thing I would like to spend my time doing is crafting and making art. Not for any reason or financial gain, just because it fills my cup.
To fulfill this need for a creative outlet in my life, instead of having separate time to myself to pursue art making, which isn’t really possible for us right now, I have managed to weave creativity into the fabric of our daily lives. For the moment, while my children need my support and I need to contribute financially to my family, this will have to be enough. With purposeful action, I have woven artistic practices and innovative thinking through our home education life, through the community spaces we are building and my business Mini Mad Things. It’s not separate, just part of our everyday living.
Although I do feel the need to learn and grow in my own creative knowledge, separate from my life as a parent, (I really want to learn some pottery and painting skills), I love that I have been able shift my creative practice to fitting alongside being with my children and running my business. I love the work I do making art with kids, inspiring families to create and facilitating workshops. I get so much joy sharing art ideas with children and other families. This feels good enough for now and I know this period of my life, of more intense parenting, won’t last forever.
Why does creativity matter to me?
Even though I’m not regularly creating my own art or design work, outside of making art with my children, my hope is that the concept of creativity is permeating into my children’s lives. I hope that they grow up knowing that they to can breath life into their ideas through creative work.
Creative practice of all forms feels so important right now. Being able to make art, craft, build and fix things, sows the seeds of re-imagining the world we are living in. In her recent article, Sara Sadak shares:
‘In a time where the arts are censored, attacked, and surveilled, it is important for all of us to stake fierce claim on the capacity for our brain to imagine and create alternatives. This muscle is built through making of all kinds. And it is applied and extended to how we imagine family, community, education, healthcare, how we are to be with one another. Creating is a muscle we all desperately need to foster.’
I couldn’t agree more. Creative practices can help us make connections with others, build communities and imagine alternative systems for us to live within. Eventually, just maybe, we will be able to move out of the harmful and oppressive systems around us and step either partially of fully into these new systems we have built. Systems that have been build with creativity, care and mutual work.
Making connections with creative projects
We have just moved house and as a result, I was looking through and packing a big box of my children’s art. I wanted to share with you this super simple art project we created together years ago, when my children were 3 and 6 years old. I have fond memories of us sitting around the table together, with art materials spread before us, each making marks on a paper, creating art together.
It’s so simple, get some sheets of nice quality thick paper; one for each person taking part. Place a range of easy-to-use art materials on the table, like crayons, water colour paints, markers or pastels. You each start with a piece of paper and begin adding colour or making marks. After a few minutes, stop and pass the paper around to the next person, who then adds their marks. Continue the process until you have all added something to each of the pieces of paper and the paper is looking full. The result is a collection of collaborative artworks and a fun time chatting, making art together. All ages can take part, from babies to grandparents.
Happy art making friends!
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I'm off to buy some more paint today, we're missing white and it makes a big difference. My plan is to get the grandkids over to muck about with art more often. I miss homeschooling my own kids, when we'd get the paints out and make a mess. Back then I didn't appreciate the mess, and now I lament that it takes as long to clean away after as it does to make the art in the first place, but it's still a lovely time together.