The Handmade Parent is a series of interviews with parents who have an art/craft business or passion. The series explores how artists/crafters manage their family and their creative passion while promoting their work. Today Linda Demers interviews Margaret Owen of PermanentMagenta.
Kidoinfo: Please briefly tell us about yourself, your family, and your art or craft.
Margaret: I grew up in Farmville, Virginia, and then in suburban Washington, D.C. I received a BFA from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. There I met my husband, Michael Owen, a painter and native Rhode Islander. We now live in Providence with our 5-year-old son. I paint, teach, and work as a caricature artist. Last year I bought a sewing machine from Craig’s List and went crazy for fabric. Since then I have made a lot of handbags and my own clothes. In the past year and a half, I have discovered that I love to teach and lecture on art. One night this February my friend Bronwyn, who writes the casapinka blog, suggested that I start a daily painting blog. I have enjoyed it immensely, expanding my comfort zone in terms of what I paint, my ability to accept myself as an artist. and presenting my art in a public space.
Kidoinfo: When did you begin your art/craft? Margaret:I began painting as a girl. Oil pastels were a first love. I remember my father making me a tabletop easel from a cardboard box.
Kidoinfo: Is your art part of your business or do you hold another job in addition to your artistic work? Margaret: My business and my art are thoroughly intertwined; painting, caricature, and teaching.
Kidoinfo: When do you find time to make your art/craft?
Margaret: I have evenings from 7:00 or 8-ish to 10:00pm (my husband and I alternate story/bedtime with our son). Many nights I am able to use that time to work. My son has been in a variety of care situations for 2-4 days each week since he was 2. So I have those weekday hours to work with as well. There are exceptions to the rule, however; for example, it is 11:00 pm as I write this.
Kidoinfo: What prompted you to choose your art medium?
Margaret: My great-aunt Ellen was an oil painter. Because of her I received a set of oil paints early on and just kept coming back to them.
Kidoinfo: What inspired you to become an artist? Margaret: Other artists. Living in the D.C. suburbs I had access to the National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection (still a favorite museum), and the Hirschorn. I spent many Saturdays with my best friend, Peyton Marshall, taking classes in painting, sculpture, and printmaking at the Corcoron Gallery of Art. (Gosh, at the time I can’t possibly have thanked our parents enough for chauffeuring us back and forth.) One of my most exciting drawing memories is working from Rodin’s Burghers of Calais, a giant multifigure bronze in the Hirschorn sculpture garden. I was (and still am) so excited by El Greco, Degas, Cezanne, Vuillard, Schiele, Kollwitz, Mondiran, Rothko, Diebenkorn and others. I have to say, though, that I remain mystified as to why I have the burning desire to translate my experience into two dimensions with gooey pigment. What an odd thing to do! If it weren’t for all the other artists and those 30,000-year-old cave paintings I would think I was a total nut.
Kidoinfo: Where do you find your inspiration?
Margaret: The sale of my work! Because, much more than inspiration, I need permission to do what I love. (True of most everyone, I think, whether or not they have figured out that they are an artist.) I have to help support our family so my painting/teaching/drawing hours must be justified financially. Happily there is no other work that I am qualified for right now that would do more than pay for childcare.
Kidoinfo: How do you promote your art? Margaret: I hand out my business cards and put art class flyers up at Whole Foods, Seven Stars, and local libraries. Last year I called a couple of local libraries to arrange lectures and demos. Oh, and I pester friends, family, clients, and acquaintances with promotional emails.
Kidoinfo: How has having a family impacted your work?
Margaret: Geeze. It certainly has changed life as I knew it. Since having a child, my threshold for stress has risen dramatically, and I can fit more work into less time. One parenting perk I hadn’t considered before my son is all the time I get to spend reading children’s books. It always feels luxurious to sit down with a stack of wonderful stories and beautiful, lively, funny pictures. It is a great pleasure.
Kidoinfo: How do you work around your children?
Margaret: PBS kids! Oops, you are publishing this. Um, he has a big desk with lots of art supplies in my office, which opens onto our livingroom/playroom, so I am able to do a bit of desk work with him in my care. He used to endure the occasional trip to the post office, but I have since discovered home pick-up and bought my own postal scale! Mostly I work when my son is asleep, in preschool, with his dad. etc.
Kidoinfo: How do you involve your children in your art?
Margaret: A couple of years ago. we would shoot photos together of all manner of trucks, and I made a children’s book about a grappling digger. Sometimes he will operate the pedal [of the sewing machine] while I work on a handbag. Though we often draw together, I rarely do work-related drawing with him.
Kidoinfo: What sparks your creativity? How do you keep focused once in “the creative zone?” Margaret: The aforementioned desire to interpret my world in 2-D seems to just be there. I stay focused with a balance of structure and freedom. My studio space is a constant, always my place to work with my supplies ready to use, when not actually making something I can sweep, prep canvas, sketch, put hanging hardware on the paintings. Funny, I think my biggest key to success is washing my brushes. As long as I take care of the practical matters, the art takes care of itself. I am sensitive to my changing desire. I may be working on a portrait commission and want to paint a fish or make a handbag or dress or do something else entirely. I find that the more I honor those small urges to change focus, the more productive I become overall.
Kidoinfo: How do you find time to accomplish everything?
Margaret: Thanks for the grin. My therapist would really get going with that one. Um, if i could rephrase the question, “How do you manage not to drown in your own expectations?” I would say that I recognize that I am capable of a finite amount of stuff and that certain things have to be prioritized or they don’t happen. I have the phrase, “Put the big rocks in first,” on my bulletin board. It refers to a story in Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? by Ajahn Brahm. It’s a wonderful book, as helpful as a flotation device. In this particular story a professor demonstrates that you can add gravel, sand, and water into a jar with big rocks, but not the other way around. To keep my head above water, I try my best to put at least some of the big rocks in first. Journaling helps keep me balanced, and I am an absolutely insane list maker.
Kidoinfo: What do you like to do in your “spare” time for just yourself (read, garden, travel, run, etc.)? Margaret: All of the above, walking, running, yoga, biking, swimming, playing chase on the playground, these are essential to me. I have to have some physical play in order not to fall apart emotionally. I do love to garden, but mostly I only fantasize about it and am grateful for the perennials we put in five years ago. I love spending time with my friends and family (and am surprised at how much effort is necessary to make this happen, considering that I live within two of those people!), and the fact that I can check out 99 books and from any Rhode Island library never ceases to delight me.
Kidoinfo: One random fact about yourself or your family–relevant or not. Margaret: For a couple of artists, we are pretty uptight. It’s early to bed, early to rise, dinner begins at 5:45-6pm almost every single night. We heavily rely on routine in order to be creative and are sissies when it comes to varying the schedule. The school teachers and lawyers I know lead wild and crazy lives by comparison.
Kidoinfo: How do you support the handmade community? Margaret: I trade a lot with other artists. My husband buys gifts from Craftland and the RISD store. I buy jewelry designed by local artists from Studio Hop. I love Kreatalier. You could also say I support the handmade community by unabashedly encouraging anyone within earshot to make more of their art and offer it for sale or trade.
Kidoinfo: What was the last handmade item you purchased? Made? Margaret: I recently bought some earrings from an Etsy seller (a pay-it-forward sale piece—$3!!). Today I made a whale finger puppet. A couple of nights ago I made some desperation pillow covers for our couch, the old ones have been a downer for years!
Linda Cox Demers moved to Barrington from Chicago with her husband and her two boys, ages 13 and 8. She runs her handbag and accessories business, à la mode, from home and has recently discovered a passion for blogging. As an independent designer, Linda enjoys promoting local artists and the “buy handmade” movement.Visit Linda’s blog at www.alamodestuffblog.com
Every week on GoLocalProv I share tips on how families can make the most of their weekend — including helpful hints that make parenting easier and connecting you to great local happenings.
Kidoinfo Tip 1. Make shadow puppets
With the threat a storm heading our way, you may be stocking up on candles and flashlights in case the power goes out. Turning off all the lights and shining a flashlight on your hand is fun whether the power goes out or not. Take turns making the funniest/scariest shadow puppet and tell a story. Click here for some ideas on making shadow puppets.
Kidoinfo Tip 2 School routine 911
Now that the long lazy days of summer are over and many kids are back in school, the adjustment to homework, earlier bedtimes and getting out the door on time in morning isn’t always so easy. Jill Davidson shares three helpful tips for getting into the groove: Have a set bedtime on school nights, pack the backpack the night before, and have the kids help plan the weekly routine that works well for everyone.
Kidoinfo Giveaway: Win 4 tickets for your family to attend Audubon’s Raptor Weekend event on September 11th or 12th, 2010. Tell us your favorite raptor in the comments below. One answer will be selected at random. Deadline to enter is Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at Midnight EST.
From Glocester to Block Island, raptors can be spotted soaring across our state. These amazing birds eat meat and use their feet, instead of their beak, to capture prey. In fact, the word “raptor” comes from Latin meaning to “seize and carry away”. Hawks, falcons, eagles, and owls are all examples of raptors. Also called “birds of prey,” raptors have exceptionally good vision, a sharp hooked beak, and powerful feet with curved, sharp talons.
Raptors share common traits with all birds, such as feathers, wings, laying eggs, and being warm-blooded. But it is their special adaptations that make them so amazing. Let’s take a closer look….
Sharp Talons
The raptor’s sharp talons truly set them apart from all other birds – they are perfectly designed to catch, hold, and carry prey. Most have three toes pointing forward and one pointing backward. These toes have an extremely powerful grip. Osprey and owls have one hinged toe that can be held in a forward or backward position. Many owls even have feathers on their legs and feet while other raptors do not. It is thought that these feathers help to keep them warm when they hunt on cold nights in the forest.
New York City’s interactive, educational music experience for parents and children debuts in Providence this fall!
Rock-a-Baby, founded by Pawtucket native Marc Trachtenberg in 2007 at the JCC on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is an interactive, educational music experience for infants and toddlers ages 4 months to 4 years. Marc recently relocated back to the Providence area, bringing Rock-a-Baby along with him. He and two other energetic musicians/teachers will lead infants and toddlers in an exploration of rock, pop, blues, traditional, and classical music genres by singing songs, playing games and instruments, and dancing. Each week a different theme will be explored with the help of whimsical puppets—Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony.
The Jewish Community Center of Rhode Island (JCCRI) announced that it will be offering the Rock-a-Baby infant and toddler music program as part of its fall 2010 programming. JCCRI, located on Providence’s East Side, is a diverse neighborhood center offering fitness, childcare, classes and enrichment opportunities, rooted in a deep sense of community. While some programs offer insight into Jewish tradition and heritage, the center is not exclusive to the Jewish community and prides itself onhaving “community” as its middle name.
“We are so proud to offer the first Rock-a-Baby music classes in Rhode Island,” stated Nicole Katzman, director of PJ Library & Shalom Baby of the JCCRI. “We believe the Providence community will embrace the wide variety of music and appreciate the welcoming atmosphere and playful energy. Not only will the children be educated and entertained, but the adults will be too!”
Founder Marc Trachtenberg earned his BS in music education from New York University and has over 15 years’ experience as a professional songwriter, entertainer, and educator. Marc’s Rock-a-Baby takes your average Mommy and Me music class to a whole new level. “After years of teaching by day and gigging by night,” he says, “I saw an opportunity to blend my musical background into something inspiring for young audiences, and their grown-ups too.” Marc’s diverse and extensive experience culminates with Rock-a-Baby.
“We are excited to be able to partner with JCCRI to bring Rock-a-Baby to the Providence community,” says Marc. “We want to foster a love of music at an early age. Through the repetition of rhythm and improvisation, using musical instruments made for children, melodic recognition, and hand and body movement and more, we help to stimulate infants’ and toddlers’ development.” As the Rock-a-Baby theme song claims, “With songs from Bach to hip-hop, we’ll put on a show, we’re not gonna stop!”
Visit the Rock-a-Baby website for more information. To register for classes, contact Stephanie Trachtenberg at Stephanie@rock-a-baby.net or 401.524.5120. Tell her you heard about it on Kidoinfo!
When my boys were younger and having a birthday party, my husband and I added “no gifts necessary” to the invitations.
Toys and gifts seemed to come into our house all year long from loving relatives, so when it came time for my sons’ birthday, we asked their friends to just come and play at their party. This worked well in terms of avoiding an influx of unnecessary toys and extra expense for the guests at the party. That is, until my boys were about five years old and started noticing that friends were receiving presents at their parties.
I usually do not cave to whatever my kids want, but at the the same time I could not come up with a good enough reason why friends could not bring gifts other than “because I said so” or “because I think it is a good idea”—especially when there is so much fun surrounding the idea of gift-giving—so we dropped the no-gift rule.
Gifts started multiplying in our home again, and at the same time my boys started developing very specific tastes of what they liked and did not like. This left many unused and unplayed-with toys to deal with.
I decided for their seventh birthday to try something new: set up a gift registry at a store where guests could contribute to a joint gift certificate for the boys. Since the boys LOVED books and had become voracious readers, I picked our favorite independent bookstore, Books on the Square.
The folks at Books on the Square, who had never done anything like this before, were very receptive to the idea and set up a sheet to track the contributions. On the birthday invite I mentioned that the boys loved books and wanted to support their local bookshop. I included the phone number and the store’s website, suggesting in lieu of buying a gift, friends and family could make a “small contribution” to a gift certificate for the boys.
The gift registry was a huge success! The boys’ friends’ parents loved the ease of shopping and supporting a local business. Even out-of-town family called in with their credit card numbers and added to the gift certificate. The gift certificate was split in half and each boy received their own copy with the names of everyone who had contributed.
This gift turned out to be a teaching tool for the boys in ways I never expected in terms of planning, negotiating, prioritizing, independence and understanding money. They treated their “money” as something valuable that ought not to be spent all at once. They decided they wanted the “money” to last until their next birthday, so they rarely bought something impulsively. Sometimes after seeing a desired book, the boys waited days or weeks before they went back to buy it or negotiated with each other to split the cost of the book. Now with just over two months until their next birthday, they each have over $50 left to spend and are the proud owners of several small paperbacks and big beefy hardcover books. I asked the boys if they regretted any of their purchases and they both said no.
I think setting up a birthday gift registry could work at any store(s) your kids like. Guests could even be asked to contribute to a class, a special event or a membership to The Zoo or Children’s Museum.
Share your gift ideas and tips in the comments below.
Every week on GoLocalProv I share tips on how families can make the most of their weekend — including helpful hints that make parenting easier and connecting you to great local happenings.
This week’s list:
Kido Tip 1. Record summer memories by journaling.
Encourage kids to write in a journal a few minutes at the beginning or end of very day about their favorite part of the day or a funny/happy/sad situation. If kids are reluctant to write or are new to journaling; have them draw a picture, paste a photo or list one thing they liked about their day. Follow up by asking them questions about the picture or the event, they may have more to share!
Kido Tip 2. Free School Supplies for Rhode Island Kids
The Providence School Department, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Sodexho School Services and over 30 community partners will sponsor this year’s Back to School Celebration. Kick off the new school year with celebrations this Saturday, August 21 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at 11 community sites. Over 12,000 kids will receive free backpacks filled with school supplies. Music, raffles and food also will be provided at each location.
Kido Tip 3. Explore Rhode Island’s Bike Paths using the Rhody Bike Path Passport!
Every week on GoLocalProv I share tips on how families can make the most of their weekend — including helpful hints that make parenting easier and connecting you to great local happenings.
This week’s list:
Kido Tip 1. Make fairy houses and blow bubbles at FOO FEST.
AS220’s FOO FEST on Saturday, August 14th is an all-ages summer celebration of Rhode Island’s vibrant arts community with plenty of fun for families. FOO FEST will include musical ensembles and activities geared toward the younger crowd throughout the afternoon, including performances by two-time Grammy Award-winning children’s entertainer Bill Harley and local well-loved Joe’s Backyard Band. Fun games and creative entertainment will be open throughout the day for all ages’ amusement courtesy of The Providence Children’s Museum, The Rhode Island Museum of Science and Art, and Kidoinfo. Music and activities are free with price of admission ($5 per person).
Kido Tip 2. Plan an easy picnic supper at the beach.
Pack a blanket, sweatshirts and a trash bag (many beaches require you remove your own trash). Prepare food at home or if short on time buy ready-made foods from the supermarket salad bar or take-out from your favorite food place. Beaches are beautiful in the evening as the sun goes down, are less crowded and often free. State/town beaches do not charge after 5 pm.
Rhode Island has many areas of scenic beauty and a growing network of paths for bicycling, walking, rollerblading, and running. The Rhody Bike Path Passport is designed to help you plan trips to explore the different paths in the state. Collect a unique stamp from businesses and organizations near featured bike paths in Rhode Island.
Summer may be half over but there is still plenty of time to plan your trips and and collect your stamps. First, download a passport here or obtain a copy of your passport at the Bayside YMCA or the Cranston YMCA.
If you collect stamps from three different paths by October 15, 2010, you will be eligible for a prize drawing including a grand prize worth at least $250 – check the website later for prize details!
The Rhody Bike Path Passport is a project by the Zeta II class of the non-profit organization, Leadership Rhode Island to encourage people to enjoy Rhode Island’s scenic beauty, stay fit, and support local businesses!
Summer is one of the busiest times of the year at the Zoo! Kids on summer break and families on vacation flock through the gates to enjoy a day outside together. You might see elephants out for a walk, camels stripping the leaves off of branches with their flexible tongues, or our new baby giraffe getting acquainted with the rest of his family. But what you might not be as aware of – even though it is right in front of you – is the many ways that Zoo Keepers and staff work to keep the animals comfortable and healthy in the high temperatures.
Just like people, animals have temperatures that are too hot (or cold) for their bodies to handle. Zoo Keepers and staff make sure that no animal is ever put in these extremes by constantly monitoring local weather and providing indoor, temperature-regulated enclosures for those that need it.
On the summer days where temperatures are okay for animals to be outside, Zoo Keepers give their animals plenty of choices on ways to cool off. Some of the things you might see on your next visit are:
Shade. Shade is the single most important factor in keeping animals cool at the Zoo. Some of our animals, like the red pandas, have shade from natural plants in their exhibit. Other animals, like our harbor seals and elephants have shade from special cloth supported by cables over part of their enclosure. Shade can even come from the shadows created by the walls and fences of the exhibit itself.
Water. Another really important way that our animals keep cool in the summer is with water. Many animals have pools in their exhibit that they can choose to use. The Humbolt penguins spend lots time zipping around the water. Our moon bears could almost be mistaken for a person as they lounge in their pool. For other animals that are not naturally strong swimmers, like the emus and red pandas, the Zoo provides misters and sprinklers that animals can run through, sit in front of, or just ignore. It’s up to them!
Ice enrichment. Keepers use ice to cool down the animals, as well as to provide a challenging feeding opportunity. Depending on the animal, keepers and volunteers make popsicles for the animals out of large buckets and yogurt containers. Part of the animal’s daily diet can be frozen in the ice. Some animals get fruit and vegetables while others like frozen peanut butter. Yum!
So the next time you visit the Zoo find a bench under a shady tree, walk underneath one of the misters set up for guests, grab a Dell’s lemonade and think about how much you and our Zoo residents have in common!
For more information about animals in their natural habitat, visit Roger William’s Park Zoo located at 1000 Elmwood Avenue. Providence, RI.
The Providence School Department, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Sodexho School Services and over 30 community partners will sponsor this year’s Back to School Celebration. Kick off the new school year with celebrations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 11 community sites. Over 12,000 kids will receive free backpacks filled with school supplies. Music, raffles and food also will be provided at each location.
For more information, call Doris M. De Los Santos at 401-222-4890.
Back-to-school celebrations will be held at the following sites:
idoinfo: When did you begin your art/craft?
Kidoinfo: What sparks your creativity? How do you keep focused once in “the creative zone?”
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From Glocester to Block Island, raptors can be spotted soaring across our state. These amazing birds eat meat and use their feet, instead of their beak, to capture prey. In fact, the word “raptor” comes from Latin meaning to “seize and carry away”. Hawks, falcons, eagles, and owls are all examples of raptors. Also called “birds of prey,” raptors have exceptionally good vision, a sharp hooked beak, and powerful feet with curved, sharp talons.
Every week on 
AS220’s FOO FEST on Saturday, August 14th is an all-ages summer celebration of Rhode Island’s vibrant arts community with plenty of fun for families. FOO FEST will include musical ensembles and activities geared toward the younger crowd throughout the afternoon, including performances by two-time Grammy Award-winning children’s entertainer Bill Harley and local well-loved Joe’s Backyard Band. Fun games and creative entertainment will be open throughout the day for all ages’ amusement courtesy of 
You might see elephants out for a walk, camels stripping the leaves off of branches with their flexible tongues, or our new baby giraffe getting acquainted with the rest of his family. But what you might not be as aware of – even though it is right in front of you – is the many ways that Zoo Keepers and staff work to keep the animals comfortable and healthy in the high temperatures.
