jaimes

Mot is a Korean term that descibes the beauty within a person as demonstrated through their actions or art. This, at least, is how I understand it.

Giovanni Boldini

Mot cannot exist in the artificial. But it can manifest itself in the material: a painting, a photograph, a sculpture.

Giovanni Boldini

It is a pursuit in Korean culture to attain mot in one’s art, music, dance, and life.

Mary Timony

It is a character trait, both external and internal: benevolence, kindness, sacrifice.

Nokomis

To have mot is to bend to the natural flow of life and harness that spirit while creating.

Isadora Duncan

It is the natural rhythm of your life, your soul, your art, your music, and even your daily responsibilities.

I first learned of Mot through the 1998 Autumn edition of Koreana, a quarterly magazine on Korean art and culture, and I’ve tried to keep this concept in mind ever since. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But the pursuit of mot, in itself, is actual pretty beautiful.

My house is a canvas for my children. Actually, so is my car, my furniture, a few books, and even a lampshade. My kids have tried to decorate nearly every surface of my house since they could hold a crayon. As toddlers, they once colored marker across an entire wall of my bedroom. It was like waves of color. I was pretty impressed once the anger wore off.

As much as I love my kids getting crafty, I’m not a fan of the chaos crafts create. I come from the school of “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” That’s probably why I was blessed with children – to completely challenge that part of my personality on a daily basis.

I figured out a pretty fun way to organize the kids’ art supplies. Since this idea gets compliments from moms who visit my house, I thought I’d share it with you. (more…)

Notice anything different? The blog is a year old now, so I wanted to give it a makeover. This is the third redesign, so that should tell you something about my personality (disorder). But, I’m very happy with this design, so it’s gonna stick around for a while.

My hope is that the redesign helps with the overall purpose of the site, which started as a way to inspire mamas to take their creative projects off the backburner (myself included), but has now expanded to include resources, interviews, and stories to help us really make it happen. I should say this goes for you daddys and grownups without kids, too. As Violet Clark said in my 9q interview,

“less talk, more rock.” (more…)

We checked out the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival over the weekend. Great little festival in the historic Grant Park neighborhood (also home to the Atlanta Zoo). This was a very family-friendly fest with two stages, one for kids shows and one for the grown-ups. (more…)

Last weekend, the family and I hit the Artlantis festival in Atlanta. This is the second year for Artlantis, a showcase of local artists and musicians put together by The Beep Beep Gallery.

Atlanta is such a festival-friendly city, which is great if you’re looking for ways to entertain yourself and your kids for FREE. And, since I’ve only lived here a year, festivals are a really good way for me to get to know Atlanta’s art and music scene. (more…)

I’ve been on a Weeds marathon lately. If you haven’t seen the show, it’s the one on Showtime where Mary Louise Parker plays Nancy Botwin, a suburban widow turned weed dealer. The job keeps her family in her cookie-cutter neighborhood, Agrestic, until season four when she moves closer to Mexico to open a maternity store. Of course, the store is a front to cover the real business of smuggling drugs and immigrants.

Nancy Botwin is a hustler and a mom. She’s doing what she has to do so she can do what she wants to do. Now, what does all this have to do with you and me? Am I suggesting we start a ring of hustlin’ mamas? No, not exactly.

But the idea of doing one legit business in order to support your less than practical passion as an artist is something I am suggesting. And rather than calling it hustling, I’m calling this concept leapfrogging. Why? Because putting a name to a concept makes it easier to digest and remember. And because Leapfrogging Hustlers is my new band name. Just joking. (more…)