Christiana Updegraff, Cincture
detail, Cincture
Christiana Updegraff (she/her/hers)
Cincture, 2020-2021
polymeric resin, nylon, tubing, silk, glass.
17"w x 26"h x 1.5"d
Covid and motherhood has challenged me to work in my studio in new ways. I used to be able to carve out as much time in a day as I wanted. Now, with being knee-deep in COVID-19, as a mother to two 3 and under, as a work from home-r, all things at home all the time-r, I am only able to work for small amounts of time. I go back and forth between loving this and loathing this. At times I am excited by the spurts of creativity I am constructing, and find some delight when I am called to change my shoes (hats). Other times I find I am inundated by the minutiae of COVID life; supporting my work-from-home husband, explaining to the children where 'Dada' is, why they need to be quiet, why they cannot attend his meetings, finding quiet places in the home where they can play, and hoping my husband will call it a day at 5:30 so that I can perhaps have an hour in the studio before the particulars of bath-time, bedtime, storytime, nursing, and sleep rituals begin. I have been pleased that I have carved out the time to make a body of work that explores the concepts surrounding the dichotomy of artist/mother; comfort, loss, corporeal deterioration, time, uncertainty, fear, and stagnation. This work is so aligned with my personal life, that it feels like the most intimate expression and extension of myself.
Cincture was started just after the birth of my son, at the start of Covid, when I was not only trying to balance life with a newborn, a toddler, and teaching Fine Art, but then teaching Fine Art online from home, with my husband taking his work calls in the same room.
@christianaupdegraff