REAL TALK
A day with Jessica Bingham
Co-founder and curator at Project 1612
REGION > PEORIA, ILLINOIS
JUNE 25, 2018
3:15 am - Woke up to the sound of my sweet seven-week old daughter pooping and my husband laughing. That probably isn’t the best way to start this entry, or maybe it's the perfect way to start this, but either way, it’s my current life. She has been sleeping for about five hours straight now and after changing her diaper we nurse for about a half hour or so. During this time my mind becomes wide awake, partly from nursing but also from checking my phone (a bad habit that I have come to accept because it keeps me from falling asleep while holding her.) So with that, jotting down my thoughts at 3am has also become a routine of sorts. I’m a lover of Instagram, so I’ve found that I use this time to write posts about being a new mom or about our changing home, and no, it’s not directly related to art or curating, but it’s where my head is at during these dead of night feedings. I try to be as honest as possible, granted it is social media, but I want to share about this time in my life because it is going by fast and by sharing some personal aspects of my life or her birth I am able to preserve my emotions in some way. I think I need to just pick up journaling so it’s not out there for everyone, but honestly, there is no time for that. Plus writing half asleep seems to suit this time in my life, because even during the day, I feel half asleep
8:30 am - We’re officially up for the day now and it’s time for our morning nursing session, but first I start my coffee. This is about the only time she won’t be on me during the day. I have a Chemex pour over and the metal filter seems clogged, so I’m trying out the reusable cloth filter my sister gave me. Mornings are incredibly slow anymore. I can’t just get up and get ready for the day because we have to nurse, change diapers, cuddle (she is NOT a morning person) and then I can get dressed. My baby wrap has become part of my outfits, and in some way, she has too.
I use this time to go over all the things I have to do during the day. And while my days are never the same, they have a similar flow with baby stuff, house work, studio time, emailing, and organizing exhibitions. However, today I have a doctors appointment to get my birth control...a must; I want to enjoy this baby as much as I can before I even consider having another. And then we’re going to the office so I can continue scheduling artists for the upcoming academic year at Illinois Central College. I just started my new job as the Gallery Curator a few weeks ago and luckily the staff encouraged me to bring my daughter to work (I wish this was the case for more parents). I also need to edit the photos from the last Project 1612 exhibition, update the website, Instagram, and connect with the organizers of the Emerging Artists Collective for the meeting they will have at 1612 in July.
As I’m getting her dressed, and of course taking a few pictures of her, she spits up at least five times. Nothing will go as planned today, and that’s okay.
10:10 am - Arrived to the doctors with five minutes to spare. It really is trickier getting out of the house on time anymore. I started allowing myself to be late to things after grad school, just because up until then I had been, for the most part, always on time and ready. After school, I tried to become a little more relaxed, which I guess can be portrayed as rude or unorganized, but it’s actually is a conscious decision for my own well-being.
Baby is in the wrap, I edit some of the photos I took this morning on my phone before the doctor comes in and make a quick Instagram post about her cuteness.. Yeah, I’m that mom.
11:37 am - Just arrived to ICC campus, and immediately have to change her diaper. We are cloth diapering during the day, which isn’t as gross or time consuming as most people think. Once in my office I login to my computer, pull up my email and then she starts to cry, so on to the boob she goes. While breastfeeding I put on ‘TED Radio Hour’ and scarf down my lunch, leftovers from the night before; roasted carrots, potatoes, beets and some noodles. When she is done nursing I put her into the baby wrap, give her the pacifier, and she’s out. Now I can work for at least 4 hours on the gallery without her waking up. Fingers-crossed this actually happens.
12:23 pm - I want chocolate.
Currently emailing exhibiting artists for the Fall semester. There were just two artists lined up for the 2018-19 academic year, so I have been working out schedules and reaching out to additional artists for about two weeks now. It’s been awesome! I do this kind of work all the time for Project 1612, but it’s nice to actually get paid for it. Plus, I get to work with artists that I have been wanting to exhibit for awhile now.
3:37 pm - Arrived at my friend Alexander’s house to discuss a collaboration on fences. Alex and I co-run Project 1612 together, so sometimes aspects of our work align. Anyway, we both became interested in fences for our work last summer and are just now finding a way to collaborate on this idea. Before we could talk, I needed to breastfeed which led to a conversation with his housemate about publicly breastfeeding in the United States. Luckily I have had no issues while nursing in public, and hopefully won’t. I think I’d snap.
Alex and I then went to his studio to talk about an upcoming exhibition he has as the Contemporary Art Center here in Peoria. Our collaborative piece will be included in this exhibition.
5:00 pm - Finally back home, it’s been a long day, especially with a baby wrapped around my body. My husband, Zach, greets us outside and carries her car seat in. She spit up all over herself, so he cleans her off and cuddles with her for the next hour as I mow the yard. I haven’t been able to do any manual labor for the past six weeks, so I’ve been looking forward to mowing the yard all day. Then I shower, with baby, for the first time. Bathing is not her favorite thing, so I’m so glad she enjoyed this.
6:45pm - Zach made dinner and brought me in a plate while I was breastfeeding and now we’re sitting in the couch relaxing. This is our time to catch up and talk about our days. We don’t get to spend mornings together since he has to get to work fairly early and I try to sleep in as long as the baby lets me. So he tells me about his day, and I tell him about ours, and we talk about the upcoming weekend plans. But I am also thinking about an exhibition I have coming up this July in Wisconsin at Yours Truly. It will be my first solo exhibition since having our baby. The work I proposed is similar to the work I made for a show last fall at The Fuller Projects, but now I want to explore another aspect of that work so I send an email to the curator. Hope they are on board.
8:25pm - Moved down to my studio, which is in the basement, to finish up a few things this evening. I’m sitting on the bed with my two dogs and my baby clinging to my chest like usual. There’s a bed in my studio because it is also the guest room for visiting 1612 artists. This is actually a new studio space for me because I have had to move out of every other space in the house to make room for our baby. But I am enjoying it down here, it's cool and has plenty of room for me to paint and make my found-object pieces, plus the bed is a bonus because I can lay my baby down for naps while I work.
Anyway, I need to edit the photos from the last 1612 exhibition and update the website and social media.
Studio view
9:27 pm - This is my last entry for the day. My body and baby are getting tired. But it’s been a good day, one filled with all the things I love to do. I tried to be honest with my day, leaving out just a few diaper changes, but that is the reality. My life has shifted since becoming a mom, as I knew it would, but it’s actually less terrifying than I thought. I really believed I wouldn’t be able to juggle all these things that make me, me. I read about artists/mothers throughout my entire pregnancy to try to gain some perspective, and I am doing my best to stay true to myself as an artist and curator. Full days like this keep me going. And now I’m going to have some ice cream.
Jessica, Finley and Zach at the opening of The Randon & Abby Gettys Collection at Project 1612
REAL TALK IS AN ONGOING SERIES THAT OFFERS A LOOK INTO THE LIVES OF ARTS PROFESSIONALS WORKING OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES
Jessica Bingham is an artist, curator, and co-founder of Project 1612 in Peoria, Illinois. Upcoming exhibitions include Welcome Back at Yours Truly in Milwaukee, WI, Across From The Blue House at Rock Island Gallery in Rock Island, IL, and Here We Lie at Corrugate Contemporary in Columbus, OH.
Project 1612 is an independent artist-run project space located in Peoria, Illinois. The space was co-founded in August, 2015 by Jessica Bingham, Zach Ott, and Alexander Martin and is within the detached garage at the home of Jessica and Zach. Artists work for a short period of time and end their stay with a reception. All forms of artistry are welcome: painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, installation, poetry, etc. We encourage artists to interact and activate the space while exploring new ideas and concepts, with full control over what they create.
Project 1612 is not a business, it is an extension of our studio practice. There are no submission fees, no participation fees, and no sales of art. We simply ask that artists come to make and share their art with Peoria.
Images courtesy Jessica Bingham
REGION
A comprehensive feature on any state, area, or city that lacks mainstream coverage. Region considers the various factors that influence a particular art scene or art-making community, and how it sustains itself. Region also includes profiles of individuals influencing the area (be they curators, writers, artists, professors, etc.), and is always written by people familiar with the topography of the region’s art community. It can include interviews, op-eds, or dialogue in man other forms. Region aims to demystify specific art scenes for interested artists, educators, dealers, curators, advocates, and everything in-between.