From 2020 through 2021 I was a resident with the Artist Residency in Motherhood program. The program, started by artist Lenka Clayton, is “…a self-directed, open-source artist residency to empower and inspire artists who are also mothers.”
Learn more about the program here
During my residency, which started when my first child was four months old and, coincidentally, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, I created several works but I’d like to highlight three book projects I was able to complete thanks to the structure and accountability provided by the residency.
thoughts on climbing roses, a book that was developed spontaneously and in direct response to my experience of the COVID lockdown. I relocated to a new city in the midst of the pandemic and found much solace in the routine of multiple daily walks with my daughter around our new neighborhood. I wrote a short poem in response to my love of mapping out my neighborhood rose bushes, which is the center of the book.
mother’s hands, a book about my own motherhood, daughterhood, and hands/touch. The book was made directly out of time spent with my daughter, especially in response to our relationship during breastfeeding.
oldest tree on the farm, a book about the American chestnut and my grandfather’s childhood in rural Appalachia. This was a project I had started in 2017 and never found the time to complete— until this residency.
