"There is this stigma that moms have to be perfect and the earth and moon have to revolve around their children. My world definitely shifted when I had my son and I think the pressure to be the best mom even paralyzed me. I feel like I failed myself and my family, early on, by denying myself time away to be an artist. I know now that it is a good thing to be selfish sometimes. It shows your family that you care about yourself. After almost five years of pressuring myself I finally set aside time to create." - Krista Rothwell
Read More"I feel like I have empathy for what it’s like to be a child. It’s hard work learning new things, trying to find out who you are and what you are good at and I feel like I go through that all the time. Also when I tell my kids you need to practice to be good at something, I am showing them that everyday. Plus they see how hard I work AND that I enjoy what I am doing. They also see the lows of when I don’t get a project that I wanted or win a contest that I entered. To show them how you can handle the ups and downs of life is a valuable lesson." - Terri Fry Kasuba
Read More"Both being an artist and a teacher has influenced my parenting. In both making art and teaching it, you need to have a lot of patience. Being around so much art enriches Anna and hopefully makes her a more well rounded person. She draws and paints all the time and is interested in art. We take her to museums and gallery openings frequently and she is around us when we are discussing painting with friends and family. It is such a part of my life that I have to think her interest in it is connected to that. When she would cry at night as a baby and it was my “shift” to walk around with her, I would take her around the house and tell her about different paintings to calm her down - it usually worked." - Chris Feiro
Read More
