Creative Inspiration for Moms and Little Ones

Veronika Roux-Vlachova believes that all mothers are creative by nature, but that some moms can benefit from a little behind-the-scenes support for their artistic desires.

 “Motherhood definitely inspires art but often prevents us from experiencing due to time pressure and lack of planning. Once the first step towards art is made, mothers are inspired to see and to create more, creating a wonderful loop between motherhood and art, as one really feeds off the other."

An accountant turned business-development executive and entrepreneur, Roux-Vlachova has found a novel way to combine her passions for art and motherhood - and share those passions with other mothers who are eager to introduce art to their children’s lives, through her business, Art Strollers.

“After the birth of my first son, Carl-Edmund, I wanted to introduce art-related outings for our family, so we started going to the museum and the galleries a little more,” Roux-Vlachova explains. “Art surrounds us and introduces elements of history, culture and creativity. In addition to the creation process, there is an entire analytical thinking process when reacting to a work or when researching on an art movement. They are simply great activities for both parents and children."

“Then, while pregnant with my second son, Martin-Oliver, the idea to do gallery tours for mothers came one day while browsing some art works. A date was scheduled and the idea was to see if people were interested; over 40 mothers signed up for the first tour.”

Roux-Vlachova’s most recent program - Simply Babies! - provides mothers with the opportunity to obtain professional photographs of themselves creating art with their babies.

The setting is an art gallery. Ten mothers with children all engage in various artistic activities. Babies and toddlers draw, paint, sleep, run or crawl while photographer Andrew Taylor snaps away. The result: creative in the moment images of both mother and child....Workshops are scheduled monthly and limited to 10 participants.

Roux-Vlachova connected with Taylor through her work in the stock photography world and was very impressed by his knowledge and professionalism. “We came up with the idea of having mother and child engage in an art activity. It takes away from the pressure of posing for the camera and offers some fabulous moments to capture."

Art Strollers offers a variety of other child-friendly arts and cultural outings for mothers with young children. According to Roux-Vlachova, the majority of her clients come from a field outside the arts, but they are passionate about art and want to make art a regular part of their family’s lives. The benefits of doing so can be considerable.

“Looking at art with your children offers the possibilities for fabulous dialogues which can be as simple as shapes and colours or go more in depth in history. Toddlers often recognize objects in their day to day life in paintings and it offers a wonderful window of explanation as to how these objects were used in the past.”

To share art with your child is to carry on a creative dialogue about things that might otherwise defy expression. It's a conversation that can continue throughout your lifetime. What an amazing opportunity for both you and your child..

Do you make a point of creating art with your children and otherwise incorporating art and culture into their lives? If so, what are your favorite ways of doing so?