The Sacrifices of the Single-Mother Artist

"In 1959, about 1% of American women were divorced; about 9% of children were raised by single mothers. Imagine how daring it was for three divorced single moms to move into a three-story house and raise their kids together. Now imagine that these women are also accomplished, ambitious artists who convert each floor into its own separate studio. Finally, consider that the house is in New York's (then) gritty Bowery district."

"Such was the case for painter Lois Dodd, printmaker and illustrator Eleanor Magid, and the late sculptor Louise Kruger, who, for over 50 years, forged their families and careers at 30 East 2nd Street. The fascinating - and delightfully eccentric - trio are the subject of Katie Jacobs's new documentary Artists in Residence, a clear-eyed chronicle of the sacrifices demanded of women who had the audacity to prioritize their creative lives over their roles as wives and mothers."

"The film starts with a tender montage that juxtaposes contemporary and historic imagery of the Lower East Side with colorful swatches of a painted canvas or quilted fabric - gesturing to the ways in which the neighborhood came alive in the women's artwork, just as the artists and their children livened the neighborhood. "Once upon a time I had a bed in here," recounts Dodd, now 98, seated in the third floor, which she still occupies."

Lois Dodd, Eleanor Magid, and Louise Kruger, three divorced single mothers, lived at 30 East 2nd Street in Manhattan's Bowery and raised their children while pursuing art careers. Each woman converted a floor into a separate studio, balancing childcare and creative work, and ultimately purchased the building after a rent dispute. Their neighborhood and domestic life informed their paintings, prints, and sculptures across decades. Dodd continued to occupy the third-floor studio into her late nineties, valuing studio space over a conventional bedroom. The household fused familial support with artistic ambition, sustaining over fifty years of creative labor.

Read at Hyperallergic