Natalie Bruvels: Let's Play Studio Tour

Natalie Bruvels: Let's Play - Studio Tour What is a parent (generally the mother) or caregiver (too often the daughter or mother) to do with her child and or loved one that she cares for when school and daycare are closed, babysitters are not coming into your home to provide relief to child care, and or PSW are not coming into help either? How does her other work get done? Where is the time for the parent and or caregiver to recharge their own batteries with self-care and time off? In Natalie’s case, she could have quit her MFA or tried to negotiate with her faculty to have it put on ice until she had some support systems back in place, instead, she asked/convinced her 9-year-old son Tomson to become her painting partner. She could not complete an MFA exhibition show or write and defend her thesis without bringing Tomson into her MFA work as part of her mother-child relationship of play, care and teaching. Natalie and Tomson already painted and played video games together but if Tomson was going to buy into his mother taking him seriously as her painting partner his world of ideas and content would have to also become part of the work’s subject matter and mark making. You'll see references to video gaming and other iconography of subjects that Tomson is presently interested in - or a math problem being worked out, alongside Natalie’s visual representations of her own ideas on the canvases in the Let's Play exhibition. They named themselves Cat Collective. Natalie is paying Thompson a percent of her commissions for Let’s Play painting sales, teaching him that his work is important and valued. This leads to once again to ask society “Where is the value and respect being shown for a mother’s unpaid work? - Carrie Colton, gallery principal studiosixtysix.ca

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