Aside from celebrating the art lovers, Mama on Palette also takes pride in celebrating diversity. This month, we have Mama Chiei Ishida, a loving mother of 3 children from Tokyo, Japan.
Chiei studied various genres of art including oil painting, printmaking, and installation art. After graduating from art school in San Francisco, she moved back to Tokyo to start her career as a museum curator before moving to Australia to study Art History.
In 2015, she moved to Singapore with her husband and had their three children here. Currently, she is a full-time mother and a part-time artist.
Read on to find out more about Chiei.
She Believes in Thinking Outside the Box
I always loved art since I was a child.
My father, who was a photographer, and my mother, a professor in a local art university, used to take me to galleries and museums when I was much younger. Being raised in an artistic household had its perks; I was constantly exposed and introduced to their various art communities and naturally, art was the subject I chose to study as a student.
I love art because it is accessible.
Everyone can enjoy the beauty of art. No matter what you create, your creativity will always get the attention it deserves, and good artists are committed to constantly refining their techniques and concepts. Being an artist myself, I am always intrigued by other artists who always challenge the status quo and expand the boundaries.
She Engages Her Children In Arts Often
Art is a fantastic educational tool. Through art, small children, like mine, learn about the different aspects of art, like colours and shapes, and it helps to improve their motor skills as well. The works that they can come up with reflect their own little world and imaginations.
Also, art also helps to cultivate a sense of beauty from early childhood. However, the seeds of this sensitivity need to be planted when the children are small so that it can resonate with them as they grow up.
She Acknowledges the Challenges of Parenting
Any mother would agree with me that giving birth is one of the biggest accomplishments for any woman. After going through pregnancies, birthing, feedings, endless sleep-deprived nights (3 times for me), I have fewer things to fear.
Having done it thrice, I have come to realise that parenting is not easy because it requires enormous amounts of courage and endurance to raise children.
Her Favorite Art Piece Reminded Her of a Time Before Motherhood
My favourite art piece is Sunlight Through Bougainvillea (2019) because it reminds me of how I started to paint. I was in the middle of raising a baby and a toddler, and I could feel my world closing in on me. It felt difficult for me to manage all I had on my plate, and I was starting to feel the pressure of being a mom.
But one day I was inspired by these beautiful flowers glowing in the sun and that’s when I started painting for myself again.
She Never Forgot Her Mothers’ Wise Words (And Sacrifice)
My mother once gave me a piece of advice that came from her own experience. She said “When you are raising children, fly low but keep on flying. If you stop, you will need to use a lot more energy to fly back up.”
As a working mother, she knew that her time was more limited compared to her other male colleagues, but she never once gave up her career in return for being a mom. Because of her sacrifice, I have never forgotten her advice.
Never give up, every single brushstroke counts especially while raising children, you may never know, as they can be the very thing that helps to give you more brushstrokes.
Find out more about Chiei's art here.
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