With artworks spanning fiber, sculpture, painting, printmaking, photography, mixed media, and installation, Elusive Balance visually explores the complexity of motherhood through themes of rest and productivity, contentment and overwhelm, stability and transition, responsibility and absurdity/play, and societal expectations vs. personal intuition. It challenges the myth of “balance” and instead celebrates the nuanced realities of caregiving as an artist across different life stages and identities.
From the group organizers, “This exhibition is not just about the idea of motherhood, it’s about the intersection of creative identity with caregiving, and how those roles inform, frustrate, and inspire one another. There’s power in showing up together.”
GROUP BIO:The Iowa Artist/Mother Group is an ever-growing, egalitarian group started in 2021 that meets to build community, share resources, and support artists who are also caregivers. Represented are various backgrounds, ages, motherhood stages, and mediums. Founding members Catherine Reinhart and Sheena Daugherty initially formed the group through the global Artist/Mother Podcast community led by Kaylan Buteyn. Since then, the group has grown to include artists from all over Iowa. They have traveled the state to view exhibitions, kept a continuous online dialogue, and organized group exhibitions. “Elusive Balance”, a traveling exhibition, debuted at Public Space One, Iowa City, IA in March 2025, was featured at Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, IA in July 2025, and will continue to Pearson Lakes Art Center, Okoboji, IA in June 2026.