On Housewife Art
Several years ago, I took part in a discussion on an art forum. The forum thread was about what qualifies someone as an "art professional." A few people objected to the assertion that one couldn't call oneself a "professional" if they didn't spend 40 hours a week working in the studio.
"Forty hours' studio time a week isn't realistic for us," we said. "We're raising children, and even those of us with a partner are doing half of the housework. The hours aren't always available!"
"Anyone with a side gig or who produces art 'whenever they happen to get time to do so' isn't a professional," the naysayers countered. "You have to have discipline. You have to take your career seriously."
Friends, I took such umbrage at that. None of us who were raising families or working part-time jobs qualified as a professional artist? That was evidence that we weren't taking our careers seriously? We weren't disciplined? Ridiculous!
Soon after that, I decided to take photographs of things I encountered in the process of being a homemaker. The fluff of mold in the forgotten teacup on the garage shelf. The rainbow sheen on my homemade balsamic dressing. The congealed goop in a pan an hour after dinner had been cooked. These images are meant to make it clear that the artistic eye isn't dormant simply because the artist doesn't always have enough time to produce art.
Making art is hard work. Raising a happy, healthy family is also hard work. I may have not had the luxury of multiple hours a day of studio time, but my brain craved creativty and I expressed what was possible for me within that limitation, in the best quality I could deliver. I was not a lesser artist, nor was my work less valid, because I was unable to produce it full time.
Not only do I believe this about artists who are raising children, I believe it about artists who are caregivers, artists who must work part-time jobs to support themselves, artists who struggle with mental health problems, and artists whose circumstances make it difficult to create in spite of their great desire to do so.
There are only so many hours in a day. Housewives, don't give up! Keep making art.