Mothering as an Artist // with Amanda Faye Lacson

Though motherhood can and ideally should take a village, the writer/artist who is also a mother has many messages coming at her at all times: how much should I mother my child; how much time can I spend away from mothering to create art; is that time spent away from child and family selfish? How much is too selfish? 

In this class we will discuss myths of motherhood, how we can unpack these myths, and what myths, stories and real-life examples we can look to, in order to create liberating stories and a creative practice that honors both the motherhood and the artist in us.

I broadly define “myth” to mean ancient mythologies and their descendants in folklore and fairy tales; cultural expectations that pervade Western society; and the myths closest to home, the family stories that you grew up with. I also want to loosely define “mother” to not only mean a person who has birthed a child, but any person who sees themselves in the primary caregiving role, who has to make choices in their creative practice and caregiving for a child.

It is my hope that this class will create and expand our mother-artist community and bring participants closer to a creative practice that feels aligned with their mother-lives.

Week By Week 

Week 1: The Mother Inheritance

What vision or version of Motherhood have you inherited? This week we will explore the images of motherhood we grew up with. We will read book excerpts and watch film clips that picture the historically Ideal Mother in the Western world. Exercises will include memoir writing and reaction pieces to the resources, so we can gain a better understanding of what part of the mother inheritance we want to keep, and what we want to let go. 

Week 2: The Too-Good Mother

The Too-Good Mother is a specific archetype of the Ideal Mother that we will dive into more deeply this week, through readings in feminism, psychology and fairy tales. We will look at excerpts of Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women who Run with the Wolves, and discuss/write about how the Too-Good Mother can not only stifle our children, but also stifle our own creative life. Estes offers a telling of the Russian fairy tale Vasalisa, which we will decode with her and through additional lenses to see if/how it can liberate our own motherhood and creativity.

Week 3: The Mothering Body

Whether or not you birthed your child, the embodied experience of being a mother can be complicated. Attachment theory talks about the early need for physical connection; social psychology talks about the adult need for physical connection. And yet: for many mothers, there is a sense that our bodies are no longer our own and we miss solitude. Additionally, the mother-body has not been historically celebrated in our art and culture. How do we reckon with this? Through readings in Greek and goddess mythology, and embodiment studies, we will write and explore the dichotomy of the mother body needs. We will also look to examples of artists who embrace these complexities and reflect on how we can incorporate the complexities in our own practices. 

Week 4: Motherhood Grief/Loss/Mourning

“Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” -  Elizabeth Stone. Motherhood grief can start before our hearts go walking around outside the body, in the form of loss, miscarriage, inability to have children. This week we will make space to name motherhood grief in its complicated, expansive and particular form. We will talk about images throughout history and mythology, from the Pieta to Aztec religion that honored mothers themselves who died during pregnancy and giving birth. We will look at examples in contemporary playwriting, art and writing that give name to motherhood grief. We will reflect on how we can bring our own motherhood grief out into the world so we don’t have to shoulder it on our own. 

Week 5: Creating as a Mother

As humans and mothers we are born to create. In our motherhood, we create life and a world for our children. The act of creation does not, should not, end with our motherhood. This week we will explore myths of Mother-Goddesses from around the world, and what these stories tell us about the act of Creation. On a practical level we will explore what is needed to create: from the practicality of a Room of One’s Own, to uninterrupted dreaming and noodling time. How can we carve out and prioritize these spaces for ourselves in our motherhood? How does creating these spaces add and not take away from our motherhood?

Week 6: Mothering in Community: Becoming Visible

In Western society, mothering can be an isolating experience, from birthing to the everyday physical and emotional messiness of caregiving. Western society rewards and uplifts narratives of a perfection, happiness and cleanliness, from the concept of “cleanliness is next to godliness” to “tradwife” social media content: yet, the process of mothering, like the process of creating, is nonlinear and imperfect. What would it be like if we, as mother/artists, could feel supported in our process and not be judged by the result? How can we grow our mother-artist communities? In this session we will look at models for mothering in community, both contemporary and indigenous. We will also look at examples of mother artists, and how/if they incorporate their motherhood in their practice. We will reflect on how we can create and grow our mother-artist practice and share our ideas with each other, so we can have multiple pathways in, as our motherhood and artist roles shift.

Who Should Take This Class

People who are currently in the active process of mothering and trying to create/maintain their artistic practice. 

"As the mother of a two-year-old, I know that time can be limited for mothers: yet, I also know the importance of staying grounded in my creative practice which started long before I became a mother. I also am aware of the pressures of motherhood, both internal and external; and how those pressures make me give up something, and that usually means my creative practice. This class is meant to be a space of reflection, a space to encourage mothers to carve out time for themselves, and a space of community for those of us on different parts of our motherhood journey." —Amanda Lacson

We offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color through the Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg Fund. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.

Format

This is a hybrid, online class, hosted on the online teaching platform Wet Ink with optional weekly Zoom meetings. Depending on the needs of the people attending, the Zoom meetings may consist of writing time together (for moms who need/want the focused time to complete the work); reviewing material; and/or more in-depth discussion of the material.

The optional 2-hour Zoom meetings will take place weekly on Sundays from 12 PM - 2 PM ET | 9 AM - 11 AM PT on January 12, 19, 26, and February 2, 9, 16, 2025. Sessions will be recorded and made available only to the class. 

Note: There are no browser requirements for using Wet Ink and it is mobile-friendly. Coursework for each week will be posted by 6:00 AM EDT each Wednesday beginning January 8, 2025. 

About the Facilitator

Amanda Faye Lacson is a Filipina-American writer, photographer, and historian. Her work, both personal and community-oriented, is centered on exploring how our identities are shaped, how they impact the way we move in the world, and how we write our history. She aims to bring forward voices that have been less-studied through creative nonfiction and playwriting; photography that documents the artistic process at work; oral history-oriented podcast interviewing; and community-based workshops for the family historian. When her son was almost two years old, Amanda joined the Raised Pinay community, a group of Filipina (Pinay) mothers that gathered to write together, reflect on their Pinay childhood, and how it affects their experience raising Pinay children. Amanda received her MA in TLA at Goddard College in 2010, and currently co-teaches the required classes for the Certificate in TLA Foundations.