38 episodes
Postpartum Production Kaitlin Solimine
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- Arts
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5.0 • 38 Ratings
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TL;DR (i.e., give me the elevator pitch!) description:
Being a producer of creative projects and a mother don’t need to be mutually exclusive pursuits—how can we as parents in early postpartum (and well beyond!) reframe and reclaim the work we do as creatives and caregivers, to be seen as productive, valued, and meaningful? Join novelist and host Kaitlin Solimine on this journey to reframing postpartum and caregiving as worthy of intellectual, philosophical, and socially-impactful pursuit.
Long description:
It’s hard to find the balance between being a mother and pursuing creative projects – especially during the 4th trimester. When Kaitlin Solimine, a published, award-winning author and mother of three young children, was lying in bed recovering from her third childbirth, she had an epiphany: this time that most have described as “lost” time, was rather extremely creatively informative for her (she wrote new sections of her novel and even launched this podcast from that bed!).
Deep in the trenches of early postpartum herself, join Kaitlin and her creator-activist-mother guests, as they navigate the liminal space between mothering and creating. If you are a new parent in postpartum, had a creative pursuit before you became a mother, or simply seek inspiration from other artists who are creating during a transitional time, this is the podcast for you.
These episodes will provide you with practical and philosophical suggestions on how to reframe your work in a space where parenting is not ordinarily considered meaningful productivity, generate new ideas on how to incorporate creativity into motherhood (and how parenting moments may inspire creative pursuits as well!), and explore other artists’ processes around creating during the transition to parenting young children. Although this podcast is not meant to be prescriptive, hearing these stories and learning about the tools other creatives use will hopefully inspire you to consider ways to integrate your artist and caregiver identities in meaningful, impactful ways.
Why the term “production”?
Google the term “postpartum” and you’ll be led to a plethora of websites about postpartum depression and anxiety. While these are important topics and experiences worthy of additional research and support, the postpartum period, when treated with support and curiosity, can be reframed as one of creative possibility and identity transformation. Rather than relinquishing new mothers to corners where they need to choose between creative work and caregiving, or where they feel completely lost when it comes to their creative identity, this podcast provides a third path for creative mothers who are seeking meaning and validation of the caregiving work they do on a daily basis.
What is “productive” time when you’re a mother and a creative? How can public-facing creative projects, and the often hidden and devalued time of raising humans, be seen as “productive” pursuits within the current capitalist structure of American and Western society?
Kaitlin herself has discovered that the postpartum period after birth offers an opportunity to pause and find new significance to exploring artistry while caregiving as an integral part of life. Notably, Kaitlin recorded the early episodes of her first season while in postpartum with her third child.
Biweekly, Kaitlin talks with authors, poets, writers, painters, philosophers, and parenting experts about mothering, changing perceptions of motherhood/parenting, art, creativity, activism, family leave, childbirth, finding inspiration, changing identities, expansive change, caregiving roles, and more.
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The Explosive Female Body: Artist Alexandra Carter’s Muse in Birth and Beyond
“The bulk of my work comes out of this place of the explosive female body and really meditating on that and looking at that. The body has always been my deepest interest, and painting the figure, and that has been the case for many, many years. And so when I started to think about family building and my reproductive health and my fertility, just even the inkling of those thoughts, the work started to become infused with these images of motherhood of the reproductive female body. Because it represents so much: there's so much richness there for me in terms of how we talk about the female body, in terms of its messiness and its inability to be contained.” - Alexandra Carter
Welcome back to Postpartum Production! We are thrilled to begin Season 3 of the podcast, and to be in community with you once again. Season 3 further examines the intersection of Birth and Creativity, and what better person to start the season than Alexandra Carter, an artist focused on fertility, maternity, and the monstrous feminine, and who, when we held this conversation, was just weeks from giving birth to her second child.
Alexandra’s recent solo exhibitions include “Monstrous Mothers” at the Middle Room in Los Angeles, “Bumps and Grinds” at Rogers Gallery in Las Vegas, “A Sense of Heat in Her Brain” at Luna Aeneas Gallery in Los Angeles, “Berries for BowBow” at Radiant Space in Los Angeles and “Tether,” which was a duo show at Oolong Gallery in Solana Beach, California.
In our first episode, Alexandra and Kaitlin discuss:
Alexandra’s journey as an artist and how that has tandemed with her motherhood journeyHow she is preparing for her second birth, both as a human and as an artist, and how it compares to that of her highly-medicalized first pregnancyThe meaning of the “explosive female body,” a subject much of Alexandra’s work focuses on
More about Alexandra:
Website: https://www.alexandra-carter.com/Instagram @alexandracarterstudio
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com
Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com -
Marginalia #2: How Not To Scratch the Soil
Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to Postpartum Production! We are thrilled to begin Season 3 of the podcast, and to be in community with you once again.
Before we kick off Season 3, Kaitlin checks in to provide an update on the podcast, a peek into what we’ll be exploring together this season (more on that in a moment!), and some heartfelt reflections on the never-ending challenges of balancing creative work, caregiving, and commerce. How can we create art while paying the bills? How do we play the long game of sustainability, while also living in the present? How does one do it “all” and, as importantly, when?
These are questions caregivers, creatives, and those of us just trying to make it work in a capitalist society wrestle with daily. While answers may not be simple, we at Postpartum Production hope to provide you with the tools, inspiration, and support you need as we continue this ongoing pursuit of meaning, impact, and value together as a community.
So, what’s in store for Season 3? Get ready for fascinating, powerful conversations as we speak with artists across genres and mediums- painters, poets, comics, and creatives of all kinds- about the intersection of Birth and Creativity. We delve into the profound connection between the body, the birthing process and the artistic journey, exploring how the transformative experiences of birth inspire and shape creative expression. We can't wait to share these conversations with you.
Lastly, we would love to hear from you: the questions you’re struggling to answer, the tough topics you feel deserve discussion and debate, or just simply what you are experiencing in this moment. Reach out to us any time via our Website, Instagram, or Substack.
We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing our journey together this season.
Referenced in today’s episode:
An interview with Rick Rubin: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/10/the-creative-act-a-way-of-being-by-rick-rubin-review-thoughts-of-the-bearded-beat-masterNew Yorker Article on mentorship and Early/Late blooming artists: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-malcolm-gladwell
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com -
S2E15 - A Moment in Time: Looking Back on Season Two’s Highlights, Lessons, and Reasons for Hope in Caregiving and Creativity
In this episode, we look back at a few of the themes that emerged from our conversations this season and take stock of what this means now; looking back and also looking forward to the work we all have to continue in our examination of this intersection of caregiving and creativity.
We’re incredibly grateful that our guests could take the time to sit with Kaitlin, and for their honesty and vulnerability, which really make this podcast the open and engaging space that it is, and hopefully is for you as listeners.
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com
Follow us on Instagram:@postpartumproductionpodcast
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com
Drop us a line via email: hello@postpartumproduction.com -
S2E14 - The Poetics of Parenting: Poet and Educator Ben Berman's Take on Writing While Parenting
We are capping off our season of conversations with Ben Berman, the author of three books of poems and the new collection of humorous and literary essays, Writing While Parenting. Ben has won the Peace Corps Award for the Best Book of Poetry, has twice been shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Awards, and has received awards from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, New England Poetry Club, and Somerville Arts Council. He's been teaching for 25 years and currently teaches creative writing classes at Brookline High School. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and two daughters.
Kaitlin’s conversation with Ben explores the intersection of creativity and parenting through the lens of his latest book, and how they can coexist.
Ben and Kaitlin talk about:
Why Ben felt compelled to write a book in and around the subject matter of writing while parenting.The idea that disorder can be a catalyst for creativity and how being a parent as well as working with kids has shifted Ben’s perspective on creativity.The challenge of balancing creative engagement with parenting responsibilities – how we can make our children a part of our creative journey instead of seeing them as obstacles.The delicate balance between being fully present in the moment as a parent and detaching to think about it from a creative perspective and how Ben merges the two aspects through his writing.The relationship between form and content, and how the structures that we create allow for freedom or inhibit it.
More about Ben:
Website: www.ben-berman.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ben.berman.7927/
Pre-order Writing While Parenting here:https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781773491110
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com
Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com -
S2E13: Mom Rage is a Weathervane—Minna Dubin on Maternal Anger and Structural Inequalities in American Society
"I think about rage as containing information. I talk about anger as a weathervane pointing you towards the places that need attention and healing. So I think rage can be useful in that way of teaching you what needs to change in your life. And it might be that you need more support or you need to not be in charge of bedtime every night or whatever.
Rage is also useful in giving you the energy to create change larger than just your little home." ~ Minna Dubin
We are really excited to share with you this illuminating and enlightening conversation with Minna Dubin. Kaitlin and Minna had the great privilege to meet by way of the Artist Residency in Motherhood group, which she's mentioned on the podcast in the past.
Minna is the author of the book, Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood, which is out from Seal Press the very week that this episode is released this September, 2023.
Her writing has been featured in the New York Times, Salon, Parents, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Romper, The Forward, Hobart, MUTHA Magazine, and Literary Mama. As a leading feminist voice on mom rage, Minna has appeared on MSNBC, Good Morning America, The Tamron Hall Show, NBC10 Boston, and NPR.
“Modern motherhood is a setup for anger.” ~ Minna Dubin
She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband, her two children, and no pets, she clarifies because, as she says, enough is enough.
Minna and Kaitlin talk about:
How Minna came to writing, particularly how she came to the writing structure she uses in writing Mom Rage.The different facets of mom rage, and how rage can look different for each individual.The individual and the institution and how the interplay of both come to highlight where rage and power structures intersect.How Minna finds community now that she has a clear understanding of those power structures and how they impact her experience of motherhoodHow family structures in other cultures and parts of the world differ, and how the individual experiences of motherhood are impacted when you have these structures.Parenting neurodivergent children and how the lack of societal support structures for them interplays with mom rage.
More about Minna:
Website: www.minnadubin.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/minnadubin
Instagram: www.instagram.com/minnadubin
Pre-order your copy of Mom Rage here: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781541601307
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com
Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: a... -
S2E12 - The Body as Genre: Amanda Montei's Touched Out Touches on Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, Control, and More
“The way that we think about art, about care work or housework or maintenance labor is interconnected in the sense that these are spheres of society that are often deemed unproductive. Obviously, first and foremost, we need to resist that notion because it's the most important work that we do. I do think of writing as a kind of care work in that sense. It's like a tending. It's tending to our narratives and our cultural understandings of things.
I think it's very easy, especially in the motherhood/parenting sphere, to get wrapped up in our demands and the policies that we need –and absolutely, we need all of that. But there's a reason that that's not happening. I think it's because we need a bigger shift of understanding. We need new language for articulating the way in which women's bodies are exploited and used from a young age through and beyond parenthood.” - Amanda Montei
We’re so grateful to share this conversation with Amanda Montei whose book Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, and Control lands on bookshelves on September 12th, 2023. Kaitlin and Amanda have had the pleasure of being connected through Amanda’s writing workshops and also through the Artist Residency in Motherhood community where they've staged their own collective residencies alongside other mother-writer-artists in the Bay Area.
Amanda is also the author of Two Memoirs, published by Jaded Ibis Press, and a collection of prose, The Failure Age, as well as co-author of Dinner Poems. Her writing and criticism explore literary and cultural representations of gender, work, care, sexuality, feminism, creativity, and the body. If you're eager to connect with her, she also teaches creative writing at organizations such as Catapult, Corporeal Writing, Hugo House, Writing Workshops, and Write or Die.
Amanda and Kaitlin talk about:
Amanda’s trajectory as a writer, where it intersects with her postpartum experience, and how this postpartum experience impacted her creative work, including her latest book.Exploring the question of the representation of home and our bodies, particularly women's bodies in connection to the home.How writing, art, and care work can be a social justice practice, and how narrative can disrupt the false narratives that we unconsciously carry around.How Amanda is able to practice and sustain creativity as a practice of connection.
More about Amanda:
Website: https://www.amandamontei.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.montei/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amontei/
Pre-order Amanda’s book Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, and Control: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780807013274
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
For regular updates:
Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com
Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast
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Customer Reviews
Beautiful listen
You can tell how much time, energy, and thought goes into creating this beautiful podcast. Kaitlin is a skilled interviewer and her guest list is amazing. I learn so much from each episode, but better yet, I feel seen after each listen. I can’t live without this pod!
Wonderful podcast
Recommended to all my friends. Insightful conversations in each episode.
Great podcast!!
The episode with Ben Berman is a true gem! It explores the dynamic world of creativity and parenting, offering a fresh perspective on balancing the two. Ben's insights on the creative process while being a parent are invaluable. If you're an artist or a parent (or both!), this episode is a must-listen.