Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Artist-Mamas You Didn't Know You Knew


One of the daunting things about motherhood for many of us is that there seem to be so few examples of successful women artists and writers with children. In fact, there may be far more than you think. Acknowledging the tricky nature of defining "success", it still seems relevant to compile a running list of widely-recognized female artists and writers who achieved acclaim while also raising one or more children. This list is by no means comprehensive -- corrections or notable additions are welcome! 

Shirin Neshat; Untitled (Mother and Child)
Rita Ackerman
Mequitta Ahuja
Diana Al-Hadid
Isabel Allende
Candida Alvarez
Janine Antoni

Ida Applebroog (4 children and the Macarthur Grant)
Diane Arbus
Ruth Asawa (6 children)
Margaret Atwood
Phyllida Barlow (5 children)
Vanessa Beecroft
Hilla Becher
Aisha Bell
Anonda Bell
Amy Bennet
Barbara Bloom
Monica Bock
Lee Bontecou
Louise Bourgeois (3 children)
Carol Bove
Gwendolyn Brooks
Cecily Brown
Joan Brown
Sharon Butler
Ingrid Calame 
Jane Campion
Janet Cardiff
Leanora Carrington
Sarah Charlesworth
Nicole Cherubini
Lauri de Chira
Susan Choi
Carmela Ciuraru
Lygia Clarke
Colette
Sophia Coppola
Sara Crowner
Melissa Dadourian
Jennifer Dalton
Katherine Daniels
Nancy Davidson
Lisa Corinne Davis
Sonia Delaunay
Joan Didion
Cheryl Donegan
Marlene Dumas
Artemisia Gentileschi
Mary Gordon
Kim Gordon
Michelle Grabner
Nicole Eisenman
Nora Ephron
Louise Erdrich (6 children)
Valie Export
Rachel Feinstein
Jane Fine
Kim Fisher
Jenny Saville
Pamela Fraser
Coco Fusco
Ann Hamilton
Grace Hartigan
Libby Hartl
Ellen Harvey
Kirsten Hassenfield
Rachel Hayes
Julie Heffernan
Barbara Hepworth (4 children)
Dana Hoey
Lisa Hoke
Jenny Holzer
Henriette Hulich
Jessica Hutchins
Yvonne Jacquette
Elisa Jensen
Natalie Jeremijenko (3 children)
Miranda July
Peggy Kaplan
Mary Kelly
Margaret Kilgallen
Barbara Kingsolver
Jamaica Kincaid
Sylvia Kolbowski
Kathe Kollwitz
Julia Kristeva
Maxine Kumin
Jhumpa Lahiri
Anne Lamott
Ellen Lanyon
Dorianne Laux
Louise Lawler
Judy Ledgerwood 
Annie Leibovitz
Simone Leigh
Laura Letinsky
Denise Levertov
Nina Levy
Maya Lin
Joan Linder
Sally Mann (3 children)
Gina Magid
Shawne Major
Tanya Marcuse
Caitlin Masley
Joyce Maynard
Myrium Mechita
Julie Mehretu
Jessica Mein
Wangechi Mutu (from her interview in Mater Mea)
Maggie Michaels
Berthe Morisot
Natalie Moore
Kristine Moran
Toni Morrison
Alice Munro
Ellie Murphy
Elizabeth Murray (3 children)
Wangechi Mutu
Amy Myers (baby at 43)
Nancy Meyers
Mira Nair
Alice Neel
Senga Nengudi
Louise Nevelson
Shirin Neshat
Alice Notley
Yoko Ono
Catherine Opie
Laura Owens
Lygia Pape
Laura Parnes
Chloe Piene
Danica Phelps
Sylvia Plachy
Sylvia Plath
Monique Prieto (3 children)
Annie Proulx (4 children)
Ana Prvacki
Jessica Rankin
Jennifer Reeder (3 children)
Adrienne Rich 

Faith Ringgold
Andrea Robbins
Roxana Robinson
Dorothea Rockburne
Ruth Root
Aura Rosenberg
Martha Rosler
Ellen Rothenberg
Mary Shelley (wrote Frankenstein as a pregnant teenager)
Bettye Saar
Sappho
Jenny Saville
Anne Sexton
Katie Schimert
Jean Shin
Lisa Sigel (3 children)
Susan Silas
Laurie SImmons
Lorna Simpson 
Patti Smith
Zadie Smith 
Susan Sontag
Nancy Spero (3 children, 6 grandchildren)
Gael Stack
Olja Stipanovic
Jessica Stockholder
Julianne Swartz
Sarah Sze
Dannielle Tegeder
Austin Thomas
Yoko Ono with Sean Lennon
Elizabeth Tremante
Anne Truitt (3 children, 8 grandchildren)
Lorena Turner
Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Sarah Vanderlip
Ayelet Waldman
Alice Walker
Kara Walker
Carrie Mae Weems
Gina Werfel
Rachel Whiteread
Wendy White
Mary Wollstonecraft
Sara Wooster
Jennifer Wrobleski
Andrea Zittel

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