summary

Host Nikko Snyder talks to ceramic artist Sarah Beatty, full-time working artist and parent of two school-aged children. Sarah's business, Objects and Feelings, focuses on functional pottery and explores interactions and dynamics between people. It's also worth noting that Sarah's pottery business is currently the primary source of income for her family due to her partner's disability.

In our conversation we talk about the pressures of making art for money, especially when your family relies on that income. We also talk about disability visibility, living with ADHD and neurodiversity, not having the brain space available to make the art you want to make, but making art anyway, kin keeping or invisible labor, the value of deadlines, the boringness of perfection, enjoying your own individual weirdness and taking yourself seriously enough to follow through and not listening to the voices that say you're not good enough.

• Objects & Feelings on Instagram
• objects and feelings
• Women's Mental Health Podcast - Kinkeeping (part 1)

Parenting Creative explores the places where creative life and parenting collide, and all the magic and mess that ensues. Through deep, honest conversations with diverse artist-parents who are walking the walk, we explore both the struggles and the real, practical ways to make creativity and parenthood work—on your own terms, in ways that sustain and inspire you for the long haul. And we do it in community—because neither parenting nor creative life can thrive in isolation.

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takeaways

• Take yourself seriously enough to follow through.
• Parenthood can feel isolating and overwhelming.
• Postpartum experiences can be challenging and traumatic.
• Finding identity as an artist can shift after having children.
• Pottery can serve as a form of self-care and therapy.
• Navigating neurodiversity in the family requires understanding and support.
• Invisible labor in parenting often goes unnoticed.
• Disability visibility is crucial.
• Embracing imperfection can lead to more authentic art and parenting.
• Creativity thrives when we stop worrying about perfection.

chapters

00:00 Taking Yourself Seriously

01:08 Introduction to Parenting Creative

02:24 Sarah Beatty's Background and Growing Up

05:53 Transitioning to Parenthood and Artistic Identity

12:19 The Challenges of Postpartum Experience

17:10 Finding Identity in Art and Parenthood

23:25 Self-Care and Coping Mechanisms

27:13 Navigating Parenting with Neurodiversity

33:16 The Invisible Labor of Caregiving

36:30 Reflections on Upbringing and Domesticity

39:44 Balancing Creativity and Parenting

49:51 Embracing Imperfection in Art and Life

keywords

parenting, creativity, neurodiversity, pottery, self-care, disability, postpartum, identity, imperfection, art