Ada potter: “Making art and caregiving are not incompatible.”
I arrived at Parts & Labor exhausted. I had been overworking myself in both my personal and professional life. The demands of parenting two young kids, my work as the Director of a nonprofit artspace, and my studio practice had left me drained. I was burnt out and overwhelmed; so the invitation to take part in the residency was incredibly welcome.
After having kids, I have struggled to make time and space for artmaking. My identity shifted so dramatically after becoming a parent and the constraints on my time made it hard to feel “productive”. At times I felt embarrassed to even call myself an artist. This struggle to balance the work of caregiving and the work of art-making has defined the last decade of my life.
So as we arrived in San Antonio I felt acutely the accumulation of this effort. When we arrived Liz picked us up at the airport and took us to meet Matt and their boys at their favorite BBQ spot. We were still groggy from our flight but ready to be in the sticky San Antonio heat after a cold winter in New York. We started to ease into our new surroundings.
After lunch Liz dropped us off at the residency house I really started to settle in, easing up on myself. The house is welcoming and warm with art that feels rooted in San Antonio. The design of the space felt thoughtful and set a perceptible tone. Not only was the house beautiful, but it wasn’t Home. The never-ending domestic labor that comes with Home wasn’t there. Of course, my partner and I still had to do the dishes but it felt different being unencumbered in a new, simpler setting.
Over the next few days, we continued to settle in, explored the city, and I got to work in the studio. Something about the invitation, the prompt to create work, sparked something in me. Knowing that my kids were taken care of while I got to work in a space of my own felt like a huge relief. Our kids loved hanging out and exploring San Antonio with Cait, the amazing local artist who babysat while we were there. I have never been on a trip where I had childcare so being at this residency felt amazing. Knowing that I had time to myself every day made a huge difference for me and my partner.
I arrived with a project I have been slowly working on over the past year. I had been thinking about the content of the work for a long time but the actual making had been pushed to the back burner. Once I arrived the ideas started to quickly take shape. Through some alchemy of space and time, I jumped into the work and felt compelled to make my ideas take form.
San Antonio was a really fun city to explore and Matt, Liz, and Meaghan are incredibly generous hosts. They opened up their community to us and welcomed us in with a sense of genuine hospitality. They gave us space to explore on our own while also inviting us to join them for fun outings like our trip to the King William parade and fair. We were also able to join a Potlock and Poetry evening which was a wonderful way to meet members of the arts community. The evening felt very sincere yet easy and fun. I realized that despite living in a major art city I hadn’t talked so openly and authentically about art and ideas in a long time.
Liz, Meaghan, and Matt are incredible and supportive and my time as a resident left me feeling ready to be vulnerable and try to make art. The mission of this project resonates deeply with me. I feel immensely honored to have been able to participate. This opportunity is the first residency I’ve participated in since having kids. I don’t think making art and caregiving are incompatible but the total lack of structural support, in the art world and the world at large, makes it a huge challenge. We need more programs like these that keep artist parents making work.
