Agave inspired art commission and new postpartum paintings & drawings

And yes, it is impossible to work from home when you have a toddler

June 26, 2024

During the past few months I’ve been busy with some art commissions and my own evolving body of Postpartum Paintings. I am excited to share one of the finished projects, some new paintings and drawings, and how hard it is to work from home when you are an artist and you have a toddler.

The Art of Tequila

Earlier this year I was approached about doing a custom artwork for a tequila brand. I, of course, said yes. I love Mexican ancestral spirits and projects that take me a bit out of my comfort zone. This project was in collaboration with the Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, which is an amazing professional printmaking shop. I had never worked with the print shop before, but I am a member of the Powerhouse Community Ceramic Studios and have been very impressed with the organization.

I started the project by researching tequila and other existing artwork that was inspiring me during my research. I also read the book Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals by Gary Paul Nabhan and David Suro Piñera, which helped me connect my interests in my own mestizo heritage and Mexican spirit making. I was particularly inspired by codices depicting Mayahuel, the goddess of agave, and a 1937 photograph of Frida Kahlo and an agave plant by Toni Frissell. I was also looking at embroidery motifs from various Mexican indigenous communities.

New Postpartum Paintings & Drawings

Restorative Yoga, 7.75 x 11.25 x 0.25”, ceramic with glaze

I am currently in a year long art program via NYC Crit Club called Canopy. In this program we have regular critiques, guest art talks, and discussion about our work. I’ve been working on my drawing practice to think through the imagery and content of my artwork. This has been really amazing and also a little bit stressful. I am the kind of artist who has a lot of ideas and I really struggle with staying focused and pushing through to get deep with limited content. I have found with commission projects it is easy, I can focus on my very specific research and push through to a final artwork with some client feedback (often it is annoyingly minimal) and a deadline. But with my own personal projects, art I make because I cannot not make it, I struggle. I also have this looming thought: I don’t want to fill my house with bad artwork that my daughter will have to deal with when I die. I want to leave her with masterpieces.

This desire is not helpful. It takes a lot of bad artwork to make something good. So I feel like I’m in that weird place of making things I know are not yet great but I will be much better if I continue to have a little bit of time to keep thinking and making. But what mother has enough time? No one. None of us do! But if I stop now I will be one of the billions of moms who used to make art and now makes digital scrap books (I use Chatbook’s AI feature for that. No shame). Instead of designing the many interiors of my house, I force myself to draw and think and make. My walls are covered in paper and crayon drawings by my two year old and my work in progress.

Also, this is why it is called an art practice. It really is never ending and if you know exactly what you are doing then you probably aren’t making good art.

It is hard to pour both your heart and your head into your work, but I think the best art does this well. I recently read The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (recommended by a guest curator in the Canopy program!) and Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change by Angela Garbes. Both authors seamlessly weave personal experiences with macro social issues and cultural critique. I am endlessly jealous! How do they do it? How does one keep tract of the minutia of their daily lives and also abreast of cultural movements, academic research, contemporary and historical references?

¿Mamá Boo Boo Por Favor?, 22 x 30” ink on paper

But because they and so many others do, I know eventually I can. So here I am with some recent work that is very much becoming. And this is what I consider good, the bad stuff you’ll never see haha!

Alimentación 5.5 x 10.25 x 0.25” Ceramic with glaze

Restorative Yoga (drawing), 30 x 22”, Ink on paper

Working from Home with a Toddler

I don’t know who is doing this successfully, but if you are you must have a magic child. If I can hear my daughter, even if she is with her caretaker, I cannot focus. And I’m no longer breastfeeding. This has made it truly difficult to work or think when she is around because all I want to do is play with her. I recently did a studio visit with a man who has a child and he said his child had only been to his studio once. His child is 8 years old. I thought, wow, as a mom I didn’t even think that was an option. Not bring my child to my future out-of-the-home studio? There is so much pressure as a mother to make art with and or around your offspring and I think it is bad. Nevertheless, I do envision a studio outside of the home where I can on occasion bring my child. But as of now, I’m dreaming of solid separate space. I wish this for you if you so desire it. If you know of such a space in South Slope (west of Prospect Park), Brooklyn, please send it my way.

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-Stephanie