September 2022
Wellspring Mother Artist Feature:
Feature 2
We're honored to introduce you to Mother - Artist, Shemaiah Gonzalez, a Los Angeles native now living in Seattle. Shemaiah is a writer of creative nonfiction, spiritual writing, art, literature, biography, and memoir. Her writing has appeared in America Magazine, Image Journal, Good Letters, Ekstasis, The Curator, and Loyola Press, among others. Most recently, she completed a biography about author Brian Doyle published by Liturgical Press. Her current work in progress is a memoir in the tradition of St. Augustine’s Confessions and written as a prayer. We encourage you to follow her @shemaiahg
And you can also fill up on joy at her “Undaunted Joy” Substack & www.shemaiahgonzalez.com
Thank you, Shemaiah, for sharing with us your brilliance and for supporting this rising project of Mother-Artists, particularly when you interviewed us so graciously here!
Mia + Jess
Shemaiah’s lovely workspace
WELLSPRING: Please share with us your name, where you are from and what medium (s) you work with.
SHEMAIAH: My name is Shemaiah Gonzaleza and I’m from Los Angeles, and now live in Seattle. I’m a writer of creative non fiction, spiritual writing, art, literature, biography, and memoir.
WELLSPRING: To what do you attribute your style of making? (This may include: influences, art movements, artists, etc...)
SHEMAIAH: Brian Doyle, Kathleen Norris, John Cheever, Olivia Laing.
WELLSPRING: Where do you look for inspiration?
SHEMAIAH: Finding God in small moments. Presence in everyday life. Joy and heartbreak hand in hand. Art (especially Van Gogh) Music (Bach and the Smiths) Literature (Cheever's journals and Doyle's essays)
WELLSPRING: What excites you about what you are working on right now?
SHEMAIAH: Returning to memoir work after a 9 month hiatus. It is tender to see where God has been present in my life, even when things seemed bleak.
“When they were very little I told myself I could afford 5 minutes a day. I would cherish those 5 minutes of “creative work” It wasn’t until later that I realized I was being creative all the time with them. It just didn’t look like writing all the time. It was making worlds and stories which became fodder later.”
WELLSPRING: Please share how/where you see your faith intersect with your creative expression as a mother artist.
SHEMAIAH: Brian Doyle said "writing is prayer" and I believe that. Finding a story and then trying to tell it as beautifully as you can is both art and prayer.
WELLSPRING: How has your motherhood journey impacted your creative process or your way of seeing/thinking?
SHEMAIAH: I see myself and my own struggles in my children, especially now that they are in middleschool. They are both so much like me. It helps me to understand myself and them better. I thought I'd have more time to write as they got older but that is not necessarily true. They still need me very much. This allows me to be more creative with my time and effort. To bring them along on the journey by sharing my writing and reading with them. Running ideas by them. Motherhood makes me more efficient.
A joyful pop up yellow encountered at a Fall conference
WELLSPRING: What encouragement or wisdom would you share with another mother wanting to pursue her creative call?
SHEMAIAH: When they were very little I told myself I could afford 5 minutes a day. I would cherish those 5 minutes of "creative work" It wasn't until later that I realized I was being creative all the time with them. It just didn't look like writing all the time. It was making worlds and stories which became fodder later.
WELLSPRING: Please share with us where we can see, read, or experience your creative work: (i.e. social media, website, exhibits, concert info, blogs, books, etc...)
SHEMAIAH: Find me @shemaiahg and https://www.shemaiahgonzalez.com/. My bio of Brian Doyle is coming out from Liturgical Press this Spring. And you can follow my current progress collecting wonderment and joy as part of a book project at my Undaunted Joy Substack.
Here’s a lovely excerpt from “Puppy Bodies” which Shemaiah wrote for her Undaunted Joy Substack:
“Because their bodies are growing at warp speed, my sons knock picture frames off the walls they walk by. It is much like when one gets a new car and needs to learn how to parallel park, all over again. These boys do not know the dimensions of the new bodies in which they now find themselves inhabiting.
…
And because these boys are still but pups, they do not yet know how to hide their emotions. In glee or in sorrow. When they find themselves wounded in body or in spirit, they come to me as they did when they were toddlers. They want to sit upon my lap. Their legs splayed past mine. We shift and shuffle to find a place where they still fit, where they can still find comfort. And I know, just as their body can no longer interlock like a puzzle piece with mine, there will be a time soon, when I will not be the one to soothe their soul. But this morning, they arrive fuzzy and bleary, their eyes not quite open and fold themselves into my lap. They are still warm and squishy from sleep and we are comically awkwardly pressed together with their knobby knees and bony elbows, and I know, we will always belong to each other.”
We hope you enjoyed this Wellspring Mother Artist feature!
Stay tuned for more, we’ll be releasing two each month as part of our Open Call Collaboration, you can check out the details here. Interested in being featured? Send us an email over at wellspringmotherart@gmail.com with a statement of interest and share your Instagram @ handle or other social media presence.
