Motherhood and Creativity 3

Untitled: First attempt at automatic drawing with charcoal and wax medium on paper

Barbara Hepworth's pictorial biography has been a constant companion recently. Easy to dip into while feeding or cuddling with my daughter, I find endless wisdom and inspiration there. Hepworth worked as a sculptor while having four children to care for, three of them triplets. Her attitude towards home life and creativity was holistic in that they mesh together to form everyday life.

Tracy Emin has stated that to be a successful (whatever that means) artist is impossible if one has a family.  Considering the somewhat narcissistic bent of Emin's work her views are not surprising and it's perhaps as well that she never had children. Aside from everything else, her statement seems to completely disregard countless women who have produced works of art while still managing to be caring mothers.Or indeed used motherhood as their subject matter.

True it is tougher for women, like most things seem to be, unless we learn to assert ourselves and maintain that our individuality is as important as being seen as a mother.

To think motherhood will result in the death of the creative self however, shows a lack of imagination.