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