On my podcast, I have conversations with inspiring creatives about how they seamlessly integrate motherhood (or caregiving) into their artistic endeavors, resulting in impactful and resonant work.
Here, in this space too, I’m excited to highlight even more caregiver/artists whom I deeply admire. To that end, I’m launching a conversation series in which I’ll introduce you to some of my inspirations. To start, I’d like you to meet Amy Kyle, an American singer, musicologist, and music educator residing in France.
Amy and I met what feels like an infinity ago when she was the mother to two spirited young boys and I was a child-free writer living in Singapore. Our partners were both doing the finance hustle at business school and we were navigating life abroad while maintaining community and creative pursuits.
We then lived just towns apart outside of Paris for a few months and now she’s stationed there permanently in an enviable village château (I can say that because, France…) where she is a musician, academic, and mother.
I’ve loved following her career in musicology and her impressive command of the French language (she’s inspired me to pick up my Duolingo French lessons…).
Amy’s currently working on her album Bulldog with her band Maurice. The album is a compilation of stories and memories through the lens of love and change, perseverance, and growth.
Listening to its single “Cherry Moon,” you can’t help but be transported to a Parisian café as the pop/folk/jazz compositions vibrate alongside your imaginary espresso.
Amy also specializes in public speaking, non-verbal communication, and songwriting and I thought she’d be a great person to kick off our series of introducing you to people out there who are trying to create while caring, just as you are.
I asked Amy to share some of her sources of inspiration, which were, of course, inspiring.
1. Where is the most unexpected place you’ve found creative inspiration as a parent?
I have always created songs in my head. All my life, my brain was my stage for dance and song creation. But growing up in a really closed and conservative culture made me think it could only succeed in my head. Strangely enough, I think giving birth changed that.
A very specific moment of the birthing process is a moment I think of often when I search for my creative voice. I gave birth to my son 13 years ago in a small hospital in the Utah mountains high about Salt Lake City. The moment of actually pushing my son from my body into the outside world felt wild and savage and for the first time in my life, I knew that I was much wilder than my culture would have me believe.
Perhaps this sounds like a song lyric, but it's true: I felt like a lioness and I truly roared to bring that life into the world. For a moment, I felt everything held its breath and I felt powerful.
That moment, that roar, changed my artist-self, and I think then I began the process of bringing the creator that had been gestating in my brain my whole life out into the world. My songs don't really explicitly mention childbirth, but that moment of exquisite effort laces the edges of my inspiration and reminds me of my own power.
2) When you parent your creative self, what form of discipline do you use?
I am a huge fan of Julia Cameron’s The Artist's Way and I am pretty strict about doing my morning pages (though sometimes they are afternoon or night pages). Writing everyday is my therapy and has helped me work through many facets of the trauma I experienced as a child.
When it comes to disciplining my artist-self, I think I'm still working on that. Last January, I challenged myself to write song a day (meaning lyrics, melody and chords for at least two verses and a chorus) for a month. It was such a huge help that I did it again this year. Not all songs are great, but two of the songs on my album Bulldog come from that month of writing.
It forces me to search and creatively flesh out ideas, sometimes drawing from inspiration and sometimes from sheer determination, but ultimately it drives me to create regardless of the circumstances.
It also sets the tone for the year and helps me create a rhythm and prioritize creative work even when it is inconvenient (it is almost always inconvenient).
My creative self needs deadlines and accountability for sure, so creating through the year requires a concrete plan to be placed in front of me. I like to tell my band that I have a few songs for them to try even before they are totally done, just to make me get my ducks in order before our next rehearsal.
3) Who are your caregiver-artist inspirations?
The first name has to be Pauline Viardot-Garcia. She was a singer and composer from the 19th century and the subject of my doctoral thesis. She had four children and wrote and composed over 400 compositions. She told her good friend and fellow composer that you had to compose quickly and get the composition out; polishing could come later but the act must be done swiftly and with focus. As a mother, that really speaks to me.
There are moments when I have to run to write something down and stay with it even when I know there are other responsibilities. Sometimes, the creation must take precedence.
Another caregiver-artist I admire is
, an independent singer-songwriter and member of the punk duo, the Dresden Dolls. She is very open about the deep love she has for her son, but also the struggle to keep her art fed and care for her son at the same time. Her resilience, but also her openness, about exhaustion and discouragement really inspires me to continue pushing and creating.
**I’m curious: Do any of you follow The Artist’s Way like Amy? What is your process for creating while caregiving?**