Mother’s Art Photo Collection Portrays Women Artists Who Are Able To Raise Children While Pursuing Carrers

You don’t complain. You don’t contemplate. You don’t think about it at all.

You just do it.

That’s how Patti Warashina managed as a single mom with two daughters, as she struggled to combine her worlds of motherhood, career and art. Her ceramic work has a national and international reputation.

Warashina, a former Spokane resident who now lives on one of Seattle’s many harbors, is one woman featured in the book “Strong Hearts, Inspired Minds: 21 Artists Who Are Mothers Tell Their Stories” by Ann Mavor, artist and author, and Christine Eagon, photographer.

Warashina’s mother, Aiko Warashina, was - and is - her role model.

Mavor writes:

“Patti glitters like a highly polished gem, quick talking, fast moving, impenetrable and strong. Like a bulldozer, it seems that nothing can stop her. Indeed, two things strike me most about Patti Warashina. First, that her mother was and still is, a huge, even heroic figure in her life. And second, that they both live by the same motto, in Japanese called Shigata Ganai, ‘If something should happen, make the best of it.’ “

Just do it.

While growing up in Spokane during World War II had its advantages, there were still problems. The family wasn’t deported to an internment camp like those living closer to the Pacific Coast, but was subjected, nevertheless, to anti-Japanese sentiment.

Her father’s dental office was searched for contraband and the family’s bank account was frozen for three or four months, leaving them only the money they had on hand for survival.

The Warashina family was middle class, but never really accepted into Spokane’s middle-class social strata.

If nothing else, those experiences were character-building.

After the death of Warashina’s father, her mother, who had only a high-school education and no job training, became the breadwinner for her family of three children.

Mavor writes:

“As Patti describes her mother’s life now, her voice gets louder and faster. ‘She’s very compulsive. She works hard all the time. Her house in Spokane sits on three city lots. The whole thing is covered with a lawn and flower beds and a big vegetable garden in the back. She’s eighty-five. … She does all the gardening herself. The place is immaculate with large trees and beautifully pruned topiary.

“She makes me laugh. Last year I was staring at her and she said, ‘What are you staring at?’ I said, ‘Well, you just blow me away. How do you do it?’ Warashina says her compulsive nature comes from her mother, as does her resourcefulness (“but I’m not as resourceful as she is”) and her independence. “She showed me how to survive.”

Warashina became a mother twice over with daughters born 11 months apart shortly after she and her husband graduated from college, married and accepted a shared position teaching art at a Wisconsin college.

Being young and energetic helped her through the physical stress of being a working parent. And when the pressure intensified after her divorce, she hunkered down and became superorganized and wrote lists of daily chores. Warashina impressed upon her daughters the importance of her work and enlisted them to help her, Mavor wrote.

“When the girls were very small, we had some very serious talks. I told them how important it was that I get my artwork done and teach so that I could support them. I think they took these conversations very seriously, as they were very dependable and responsible.”

But it wasn’t easy, of course. When the girls fell ill was the hardest time. One daughter had allergies and asthma attacks.

“The kids were brave, though, and I was very fortunate to be living close to work,” Warashina told Mavor. “They also had each other to depend on. Actually, the three of us became very close because of our circumstances.”

Chores were shared. Saturday mornings became their time to clear away the week’s leavings - and to clear the air.

“The three of us would sit down and tell each other what and who was bugging us during that week. It was a way of being able to vent any hostilities without holding any grudges. Sometimes we’d cry, but generally we ended up laughing our apologies to each other.”

There were guilt trips Warashina took, the very same paths traveled by many mothers who must work.

She still feels the loss of free time not spent with the girls. “But I think the kids turned out pretty well in spite of it all,” she said. “The hardest thing was just getting it organized and keeping it all together. I used to say to myself that all I had to do was keep my chin above the water.”

“But,” Mavor told her, “you were also good at that.”

“No I wasn’t,” was the reply. “It was plain survival. I just had to do it.”

The end result, however, is a loving, sisterly relationship between mother and daughters.

Mavor writes:

“During the photo session, taken at the Seattle Arboretum, a favorite hangout, they giggle and chatter together like school girls. As a relatively young mother, Warashina seems to have grown up with her daughters.

“They were really important to my work, especially when they were young, because of the imagery,” Warashina told Mavor. “I work very narratively, and I’ve also worked with the figure. And I like to work with images that are absurd and surreal.”

Her advice to mothers who want it all, both family and career?

“You go by your own instincts,” Warashina said. “I think it is very possible to be a mother and have a career. It’s very fulfilling. If you find something you really like to do, go for it. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for contemplation. There is just so much to do. You just have to be very stubborn and be able to take rejection. If you sit and think about how hard it is, it scares you. I think you just do it.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PHOTOS DOCUMENT LIVES Author Ann Mavor and photographer Christine Eagon spent four years documenting the challenges and triumphs of women artists and business professionals throughout the United States who work from home while raising their children. The result of their odyssey is the photo exhibit, “Strong Heart, Inspired Minds: 21 Artists Who Are Mothers Tell Their Stories,” on display through February at the Spokane Falls Community College Library in Building 2. The exhibit includes black-and-white photos of the women, their families, homes, offices and studios. In writing the book, Mavor, an artist herself who lives in Portland, said, “My goal is that no mother craving creative expression will ever have to give up her dreams.” She hopes exhibit visitors can learn lessons from the women featured in her book about establishing a balanced life combining parenthood and creative work. SFCC Library hours are 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays; and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays. The college is located at 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive. The exhibit is free.