PTA: Parenting Through Anything
PTA: Parenting Through Anything is a magazine whose goal is to amplify the voices of caregivers. Established and designed by irladen, PTA sought contributions for its inaugural issue, which was released in late 2022. Parenting Through Anything was inspired by none other than the classic children’s book, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen. The children in the book can’t go over or under their obstacles–they must go through them. The unprecedented headwinds that caregivers face on a daily basis keep multiplying: affordable child care, work-life balance, climate change, school shootings and gun violence, racism and misogyny, mental health issues, political divisions, chronic illness, family dynamics, lack of alone time, and so much more.
PTA issue no. 3
PTA issue no. 3 focuses on boundary between companionship and parenting. Thank you to Andrew Cohen and Jason Irla for sharing their personal stories about their relationships with their daughters.
Yay! Haircut! Digital photograph by Andrew Cohen
Bedtime, digital photograph by Andrew Cohen
This Boot Doesn't Fit, digital photograph by Andrew Cohen
Annual DEXA Day, digital photograph by Andrew Cohen
Jason and Felix Irla
Happy Holidays from the Irla Family, 2020
Old Fields beer label design by Jason Irla
MTB logo graphics designed by Jason Irla
PTA issue no. 2
PTA issue no. 2 focuses on the intersection of parenting, health, and bodies. Thank you to Stephanie Madsen, Lindsay Sherman, and Kate Windley for sharing their personal, heartfelt stories.
PTA issue no. 2: Health & Bodies preview
Kate Windley, Tubo Asunda G, cynotype print, summer 2023
Kate Windley, Tubo Asunda-G-Tube, pinhole photograph, summer 2023
Lindsay Sherman, personal photograph
Lindsay Sherman, personal photograph
Lindsay Sherman, Photo by Alina Kogan Photography
Lindsay Sherman, personal photograph
Stephanie Madsen, The Beginning, watercolor
Stephanie Madsen, journal entry with watercolor
Stephanie Madsen, Looking In, watercolor
PTA issue no. 1
The artists included in the inaugural issue utilize a variety of media and present raw honesty in their work. It was a pleasure to comb through their entries and learn more about their experiences as caregivers. Thank you to Lara Emerling Grace, Clarissa Gregory, Jeremy Jones, Nicole Buckingham Kern, Jena Love, Ben Schachter, Jessica Walton, Ally Zlatar, Mary Elizabeth Anderson and Richard Haley for your thoughtful contributions.
Jena Love, 12 hours later, 2021, digital photography. Self portrait holding my newborn baby in the hospital
Jena Love, Siblings and Dad, 2021, digital photography. My husband is holding our 11 day old daughter while her older siblings act silly on the couch.
Clarissa Gregory, Mad Mama (Why are you mad ((again)) Mama?), 2022 Sumi ink on watercolor paper
Wake up Daddy (pgs 13-14 “Daddy’s not playing, Daddy’s mean”), 2019-22, Gouache on bristol paper. “Wake up Daddy” is a graphic picture book tackling adult subjects: anxiety, insomnia, depression—from which Clarissa’s husband and co-parent suffers. Within a family, everyone lives in the haunted house of mental illness.
Lara Emerling Grace, Palm Holding (1), 2021, Glazed ceramic, brass and wood, 1.5 x 7.5 x 5 inches
Lara Emerling Grace, Dandelion Walk (1), 2021, Glazed ceramic, 2.5 x 5 x 2.5 inches
Jeremy Jones, COVID Family Totem, Cone 6 stoneware, underglaze, stain, glaze, wood, found objects, paint, hardware and rope, 2021
Jeremy Jones, Kid Quarantine, Contaminated clay fired to cone 5, underglaze, mason stain, glaze, welded steel, plywood, paint, polyurethane, image transfer, rope, stroller wheels and hand sanitizer bottle, 2020-21
Nicole Buckingham Kern, Collaboration with my Son (No.3), 2022 Mixed media on paper, 6” x 8”
Nicole Buckingham Kern, Collaboration with my Son (No.5), 2022 Mixed media on paper, 6” x 8”
Ben Schachter, Wonder Mom’s Invisible Car Seat, 2022,This design adds more detail to the invisible minivan. All small children need car seats. This one is like no other! Complete with a VR helmet and flight navigation!
Ben Schachter, Wonder Mom’s Invisible Minivan, 2022, Digital design.
Jessica Walton, Coiled Mask 3 (worn), Thread and rope, 2020.
Jessica Walton, Coiled Mask 4, Thread and rope, 2021 60 x 15 x 11 in.
Ally Zlatar, People Watched But Could Not See
Ally Zlatar, When a Body is Alone
Mary Elizabeth Anderson and Richard Haley, Song for a Womb. "I have been creating these writings every week as a kind of working through of life as a menagerie of past/presents // present/pasts ... life as writing, writing as life. The episodes document fragments of my day to day experience as a parent to two children and the way that they intersect with fragments of my past as a child."