Get Messy

Loving Mama

with Essie Ruth

This class came out of a moment of connection between two creative mothers – a simple conversation where we saw and acknowledged each other’s struggle to re-establish our senses of personal identity in motherhood.

The thing about identity, is that it is born of stories.

The stories you construct about your past and present, the stories you have about who you are, where you come from, and what is important to you.

That ongoing narrative is what gives you a sense of personal continuity, and a stable identity over time.

But the thing is, when you have kids, you can become so absorbed in the daily work of caring for them that you become disconnected from your personal stories. In existing for others, you can lose yourself.

This class is designed to help you pick up the thread.

It’s about taking all the stories of your mother self, weaving them into the self that existed before, and moving forward with both of them intertwined.

We want to invite you to explore your stories with us.

You’ll record the process in a creative journal, and when it’s done, it will be a beautiful love letter to yourself. It will honour all the parts of who you are, and tell the story of how you came to be the amazing woman you are.

Class Lessons

Introduction
Lesson 1.2 : Life Before
Lesson 1.2 : Suddenly Real
Lesson 1.3 : And then there was you
Lesson 2.1 : Who Am I?
Lesson 2.2 Loving Mama
Lesson 2.3 : Self Care
Conclusion

Essie Ruth

Essie (she/her) is an artist and writer who works with a broad range of media to explore ideas of identity, family, love, grief, trauma, and social justice. Her writing and her visual art inform each other, and are in constant dialogue in her journals which hold a constantly fluctuating mix of story telling, reflection, catharsis, and imagination. She has one wife, one son, two cats, eighteen tattoos, and approximately two hundred rolls of washi tape.

Caylee Grey

Hyperbolic journaler and imperfect artist, Caylee Grey is also a wife and mother from South Africa. Caylee is the Fairy Artmother of the Get Messy art journal community, book, and art supplies brand. She has sworn an oath to embrace the messy middle and believes that more than zero is enough.