Content warning: the following interview includes child bereavement.
A beautiful and deeply moving Artist Parent interview with Julie Lawrence @jlawrenceart, an artist from the Wirral, UK.
Tell us about yourself?
My parenting experience began with the birth of our first child who was born with very profound and complex needs. She lived until she was 5 years old and it was necessary for me to develop a strong intuition so that I could tune into her needs which were otherwise difficult for her to communicate.
After she had passed I needed to find a way to heal and I gradually found I was able to apply my intuition to the world around me using an artistic approach. This I later developed into a personal artistic language when I studied for an art degree. I also had another beautiful but healthy child.
I subsequently trained for and became a Special needs teacher and arts co-ordinator, and alongside my job I continued my personal artistic journey by studying an MA in Fine Art
How has being a parent had a positive impact on your artistic practice?
With support from close friends and family, I am able to say that my artistic practice informed my teaching job and enhanced my parenting relationship with our son who is a very creative writer and thinker. In childhood and early adulthood he wrote poems in response to my paintings, and more recently he chose to use one of my paintings as a book cover for his PHD thesis about Samuel Beckett. The aesthetics of Samuel Beckett and his wrestling with liminality has impacted on my artistic concerns and focus. It is also very important that I continue the intuitive thread that was gifted to me by our first child.
What are the challenges you have faced in your artistic practice being a parent?
It was difficult at times balancing my artistic practice, career and parenting responsibilities, and I often had to burn the midnight oil and find little pockets of time whenever I could. I always found the energy from somewhere to do some sort of art practice. I really felt it sustained me in a way that also enhanced my parental and working relationships
Any advice for other Artist Parents and how they can continue to nurture their practice?
I think to try to do a something a little bit creative whenever you can. Don't expect too much of yourself but see it as an endeavour that sustains you and allows you to be exactly yourself. I try not to compare myself with others but try to develop my own personal artistic journey. Art can be like a like a friend on your parental journey and beyond. A friend that will always be there for you.
Is there anything else you would like to say, share or promote?
My son has now fled the nest so to speak and has a family of his own. I now work full time as a practising artist since taking early retirement during the pandemic. My practice continues to draw upon my parenting experiences and is continually informed by an intuitive thinking style and a concern with liminality, transience and the unknown.
Thank you to Julie for sharing her stor aynd thank you for reading. If you would like to read more stories or for your work to be shared then follow and tag @artist_parent on Instragam.
Uploaded 27th September 2024