Little Sips of Selfhood: Professional Practices for the Parent Artist
Instructor: Katherine Akey | Dates: Mondays, January 13 - March 24 (every other week)
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 PM (ET) | Tuition: $465 Members: $395 | Requirements: None
Class Size Max: 10 Students
Course Overview
Writer Natasha Randall describes looking at Twitter in between moments of mothering as taking “little sips of selfhood”— a seemingly mundane act but one that reconnects her to her community and her identity outside of motherhood.
This course aims to help parent artists restart, renew, reinvigorate, or begin their creative practice in the context of their parenthood. The class will include some readings and undemanding yet engaging creative exercises focused around creativity, art making, and parenthood/practice relationships. However, the main goal of this course is to be a place of support, helping participants create and maintain systems that will work best for their life and art career. Biweekly meetings will help each student meet their individual goal set out at the beginning of the course. Example goals include refreshing your website, setting a new studio schedule, developing a new body of work, submitting an application, finding family friendly residency opportunities, or contemplating the meaning of parenthood and its effect on your specific creative practice. Even if you just need to clean your workspace, this course is a place to find accountability and camaraderie.
Art practices of all stripes are welcome, as are parents at all stages of child rearing— pregnant individuals, new parents, seasoned parents, or even empty nesters-- anyone who wants to help their creative practice enmesh with the ever changing demands of parenthood.
Images © Katherine Akey
If your desired tuition option is unavailable, please email info@penumbrafoundation.org and we will do our best to accommodate you. If the entire class is sold out, we can add you to the waitlist.
Katherine Akey is an artist based in San Francisco, CA. Her work addresses adventure, conflict, and the negative space in personal and collective memory with a focus on polar exploration and the First World War. Her practice includes photography, printmaking, sound, video, fiber arts, and creative writing. She has an MFA from the International Center of Photography, was a Fellow with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and was the Visiting Assistant Professor in Studio Arts at Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at GWU from 2018-2020. Her work has been exhibited internationally and she has participated in several artist residencies including The Arctic Circle, Bonfire Walk&Talk, and the Artist Residency in Motherhood.
A minimum of three students is required for all courses to run. In most cases, our registration deadline is 24 hrs prior to the start time of a workshop/class. If there is a workshop/class you would like to register for but it is not listed or if you have questions, please contact griffin@penumbrafoundation.org.
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