Jen McGowan

Find the Time, 2023

46-second stop-motion loop
Risograph print; variable sizes

Jen McGowan is an artist, educator, and mother. Her work currently navigates lived maternal experience and the socio-political systems that weigh upon it. Balancing family responsibilities during graduate school was a challenge for the artist. McGowan struggled to find the time to create new work. “During a break, I looked forward to focused studio time without teaching and care responsibilities. Unfortunately, my youngest came down with a cold and had to stay home!” detailed McGowan. “Pushing through the angst, I gathered the ingredients for salt dough, set up a camera to film our time together mixing and kneading the dough – documenting all the aspects of labour.” 

The Find the Time animation is reminiscent of the Sesame Street television shorts the artist loved as a kid. The statement ‘I don’t know how you find the time’ has become somewhat of a motto – it functions as a question that McGowan keeps asking herself, as well as a dig coming from an imagined foe about neglecting motherly duties for art. McGowan later created the risograph of the dough and letters. The colors were isolated so that they would retain their primary brightness, and make the result appear handmade – like a silkscreen print- imperfect, just like any attempts at parenting.

jenmcgowan.ca