Kaylan Buteyn on following her creative dreams while navigating motherhood
This week, our host Charuka Arora invites Kaylan Buteyn, who talks about her life as an artist and a mother. Kaylan’s journey is a fascinating one because she became an artist after becoming a mother. Unlike many other artists, Kaylan did not have the luxury to give her career the time she wanted to. Despite the odds, she talks about discovering her creative passions and the challenges she had to endure while juggling the roles in her personal as well as professional life. For Kaylan, it was hard to find opportunities in a small town, but she created her own path on her own terms. In this episode, Kaylan talks about the beginning of her career, how she found her true passion, and how she manages it all with three children. Apart from creating art in her studio, she is also the founder of Artist/Mother Podcast which aims to provide artist mothers a platform to share experiences and connect with each other. The podcast community has now grown and it exists as the Thrive Together Network which supports female identifying, non-binary, and trans artists through retreats and exhibitions. Working in textile, Kaylan channels her inner artists by making quilts, abstraction, domestic textiles, and collage. Unlike most artists who are drawn to blank canvases, Kaylan is drawn to materials, rips stains, and texture; these elements inspire her. Kaylan likes to play with the material she has collected over time, and the fabric compositions she makes are a direct reflection of her future and past self. In fact, it was motherhood itself that gives Kaylan her inspiration, as her maternal experience have contributed to her abstract art. Kaylan believes in materials holding memory, and through her art, she aims to explore physical representations of generational care. With quilting, dying, sewing, painting, gluing, and stitching, Kaylan creates pieces that are more than just art. Each piece tells a story and contributes in linking places, people and perceptions. To read more about how Kaylan balances her roles of being a mother and an artist, listen to this week’s podcast and find out how mothers are often crushed under unrealistic societal expectations. Pre-Order our Studio Visit Book Vol 2. here: Learn how you can UNLOCK YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL in 2023. Sign up for our FREE Mini guide & workbook. Check out the Arts To Hearts Shop at Listen and subscribe on Apple Artist Services: