a film about mothering artists...

"WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? examines some of the most problematic intersections of our time: parenting and creativity, partnering and independence, economics and art. The film follows five women artists as they navigate the economic, psychological, and spiritual challenges of making work off the map of the elite art world."

This film looks fascinating, especially, of course, from my perspective. And it's playing in Seattle at SIFF:

SIFF CINEMA
Weds April 22nd, Thurs the 23rd 7:30pm
Director Pamela Tanner Boll in attendance
321 Mercer Street at 3rd Avenue, McCaw Hall
206-633-7151 for tickets
http://www.siff.com

The only thing I don't like from the NYTimes review is the implication that the pressure is just too much-- mothering and being an artist. One who seems to be holding it together, "Janis Wunderlich [...] seems cheerfully adept at managing five children, a husband and a successful career as a sculptor. Only when we examine her fantastical, disturbing figures — often with rabbit ears and tiny, toothy creatures swarming over them — do we see explicit evidence of her internal conflict." Mothering and anything is difficult. Mothering is difficult. But hang on a second. Isn't life pretty difficult? I have yet to have a heart to heart with anyone who can say, frankly, "Life is a breezy thing for me." Often, when someone asks how I do all the things I do, I think about, say, pioneer women, who not only raised multiple children, but had to work on bare subsistence against awful odds and extreme challenges. This basic struggle is still a part of thousands, millions, of people worldwide. And even those of us in a modern world who have the time for such luxuries as art and literature are still racked by existential dilemmas... life and death, cruelty and injustice, depression and poverty. Yep. Things seem to be pretty challenging for the lot of us. The shots of joy and peace that we receive in the face of it are as welcome as water to a parched throat. The laughter that bubbles up saves our hides. And so my life as a mother and artist and teacher, while it IS hard, is also full and satisfying at the end of the day. Take a look at my weeping beasts and bent over wounded soldiers, and I guess you just see something other than a cheek pinchin' reality. But that reality has never been anything but a pale dream.

An interview with the director at the Wall Street Journal here.
An article at Psychology Today here.