a mother's work

I really enjoyed the discussion that came out of my last post. I think it leads very nicely into sharing a little bit about the creative work my mother does today. She is still a nursery school teacher throughout most of the year, but when she has time off she comes to us... and her barn down the road, which is shown above in all its winter glory (not this snow-less one, I'm afraid). I've shared about it countless times, but for anyone new to maya*made, I think you'll enjoy grabbing a cup of tea and checking out the photos and links over at flickr barn set or reading through the barn archives. The barn is the first home that she has ever owned. Her dream had always been to live in her very own studio.  After years of renting tiny places and having little room for her collections and creative space, this barn became her biggest and greatest canvas over the past four years. So when I spoke about how we can use our homes as our galleries and studios, my mother's journey was at the forefront of my mind. She doesn't have small children surrounding her (at home,at least) anymore. There is finally a little time to actually make art. I've been trying to get her to document her mixed media work and bricolage diy projects for some time, but in the mean time here are a couple of pieces I shot recently. They were created (mostly) this summer in and around grandchildren. I placed them on her stairwell for display. The crew of puppets above seemed like a supportive audience. (That monkey on the right was mine when I was little!)

Not surprisingly, found materials are her constant muse.




I'm in love with each of them and marvel at the ease she has with assembling odd bits and bringing them to life. As you can probably see, I am her biggest fan and loudest cheerleader. And isn't that what we all might hope for as we creatively raise our children?

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