Membership and Year-End Donation Drive – the Museum of Motherhood Needs You!

Greetings Friends – MoM wants you to be part of this significant, empowering, and impactful outreach initiative. Help MoM build on our successes with you as our partner. Now is the time for our year-end membership and donation drive. Your memberships and donations are our main source of income, keeping us free and open to the public throughout the year. Because of you, we continue to reach people from around the world with this important project.

Significance: We are the first and only Museum of Motherhood in the world, elucidating the art, science, and herstory of women, mothers, and families inclusive of all reproductive identities.

Empowering: We connect with students, travelers, and families reminding them of our collective shared status, our origin stories, and the inherent creativity of the human experience for the empowerment of all.

Impactful: We are devoted to educating the world about the contributions and experience of m/others both historically and in contemporary culture. We intend to fill a longstanding void by focusing on the many roles of women and mothers through our exhibits, events, resource center, scholarship, and educational partnerships. We are taking our rightful place in the museum world.

WE NEED YOUR HELP MORE NOW THAN EVER

We are a grassroots non-profit that has been devoted to the art, science, and herstory of women, mother’s and families since 2003. We have exhibited in the City of Seneca Falls (where the Suffragettes marched for the vote) the UES of New York City, and in multiple universities.

Last year, founder Martha Joy Rose featured exhibits and invited visitors into her domain post-covid and conducted 178 home tours along with sponsoring the work of artists in residence, while hosting free healthful community suppers with YesChefVillage, and creating volunteer and mentorship opportunities with local high school students throughout the semester.

During this time, many of you joined our campaign to purchase the Mother Tree for our permanent collection. Because of you, we were successful. The Mother Tree will be on exhibit at MoM beginning December 2023.

Now, we need you again! Please help us sustain our MOMentum by securing our overhead expenses from January through July 2024. Our rent total is $24 K. Help us keep the doors open, the lights on, and meaningful engagement opportunities happening. These operational expenses must be met in order to continue our work. We believe that together we can do it!

MoM opened its doors at the Factory St. Pete in the warehouse arts district this September. We currently serve 1,200 visitors each month, maintaining our mission of being free and open to the public for those most in need of support, information, conversation, and inspiration.

MULTIPLE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Donation: Make a donation to MoM in any amount. No amount too small. DONATE

Membership: Join MoM with a membership. Multiple levels of participation are available. JOIN

Membership/Partnership: New Member Sign Up at the FairgroundsSt. Pete use code: MOM23 for free game add on at Fairgrounds St. Pete, as well as a free Activity Map at MoM. Or sign for a new MoM Membership for for add on experience at Fairgrounds! Sign up here with membership at MoM and/or follow links to Fairgrounds St. Pete Memberships.

Conference: Participate in our Annual Academic and Arts Conference. Call for participation is here. Early Bird Conference participation is: $150. SUBMIT

Shop: Go to our store to see new products! Order something online or come by our museum store in person. SHOP

Buy and Activity Map and Tour MoM: $11.50 PURCHASE

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE – STAY BLESSED – WE ARE GRATEFUL TO YOU THIS SEASON!

JOURNAL OF MOTHER STUDIES, CFP MoM CONFERENCE ’24, PODCASTS

The Journal of Mother Studies is now up online at JourMS.org. This 8th edition of the Journal elaborates on Maternal Landscapes from a variety of perspectives including the creative and the clinical. LINK TO JOURMS

Threads of Connection–Sorry/Not Sorry: Confronting mother (and other) blame–healing & resistance in contemporary culture and beyond

St. Petersburg, Florida & Online * March 22-24, 2024 * CFP – Deadline, Dec. 15th. Calling all scholars, artists, and community members for presentations and papers on the subject of mother (and other) blame, shame and pain, with a focus on resistance and healing. This international call for papers invites artists, sociologists, maternal psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, women’s sexuality and gender professors, masculinity studies experts, birth-workers, doctors, researchers, students, and lay-people to share their work. SUBMIT

Podcasts are up with MoM Talks with My Sister. Seven episodes are posted now on a wide variety of topics. This internship project with Bethanie Dell (and her sister) have proved to be much more exciting than we ever could have anticipated! PODCAST PAGE

Stylin’ with Thee Heiress: 4th Tuesday of each month (starting Nov 28th). Help with your child’s hair. Are you able to manage your natural curls? We are here to help. Open to the community with expert guidance. All materials are provided. $30 requested donation but no one turned away for lack of funds. Register in advance please so we know how many hair kits to bring. Call 877-711-MOMS (6667) or write: INFO@MOMmuseum.org. Registration: using this link! 

Herstory/History on a cushion: Last Saturday of each month, Join Donika Vlada for history/herstory on a cushion at MoM. Sessions are 2-3:30 with stories, games, art-making, and discovery. Hands on activities offer fun and learning for ages 5 +. Pre-register by filling out our online form, emailing: INFO@MOMmuseum.org or by calling 877-711-MOMS (6667). Donations welcome. Parents can hang out in a chill environment or poke around The Factory.

GO TO OUR EVENTS PAGE TO SEE UPCOMING HAPPENINGS AT MOM

Event Page with LOVE!

Mother: the Job at MoM- featuring the art of Alexia Nye Jackson Nov 2023- Jan 24

We are pleased to announce our second quarterly exhibit at our new space in The Factory, featuring Mother: the Job by Alexia Nye Jackson.

From the artist: We at Mother: the Job knows that Mothers are the mighty engine behind the human workforce that fuels the economy, as well as the nucleus of our society’s integrity. We embrace mothers in the workplace and mothers at home, advocating change in social policy and in the corporate culture so that mothers and their families can thrive. MTJ shows the undeniable social and economic value of the care giving work and labor of mothers. We know that by raising her child from infancy to adulthood, and that child’s productivity in the marketplace and in society thereafter, she is a producer of “human capital” and of the good citizen as well.

Mother: The Job – Building Human Capital, Building Human Beings is a multi-media exhibit, quite likely the first of its kind that includes a short black and white film of mother’s hands at task. Black and white photos of the sixteen main jobs mothers perform, writings by mothers and children, and other integrated art forms. These combine to portray the day-to-day life of a mother and her intricate relationship with her child. By recognizing the passion, intelligence and intuition that goes into Mothering, the world’s most important job, we exalt nurturing and care giving to an art form. That art form gives way to a final understanding of the highly evolved skill set needed to ultimately raise a child to maturity – physically, mentally and emotionally- prepared to enter into society as a productive worker and citizen.  The absurd question, “What did you do all day?” becomes the mascot question for today’s revolution – the unfinished business of balancing the playing field for all “working” mothers and the economics of doing it.

The driving force behind the artifacts is in the form of quotations. Each piece is assigned a quote borrowed from the top scholars in economics, child development and related fields, as well as Mothers and recognized personalities. Within this format the viewer quickly comes to realize that the powerful and intense job known simply as “mother” is consistently devalued in both the economic and social arenas, and that the call for a shift in our thinking and in our actions is urgent work.

MoM is thrilled to bring this exhibit to our new location at The Factory – here in St. Petersburg, FL. Join us on IG Thursday Nov. 2nd for an interview with the artist 5PM (EST) as part of our ‘Women in the Arts’ series.

Call for Community Action: What care-work looks like for you? Who does what for whom? Sometimes it takes multiple family members to provide for a loved one. MoM invites you to share your pictures either on our IG, FB or email us: INFO@MOMmuseum.org and we’ll share your experiences as part of this show. We’d love to feature your art: photos, sketches and stories as part of this ongoing exhibit. We can’t wait to hear from you!

MoM will be closed through Tuesday October 31 while we prep for this show.

Threads of Connection–Sorry/Not Sorry: Confronting mother (and other) blame–healing & resistance in contemporary culture and beyond

St. Petersburg, Florida & Online

March 22-24, 2024

CFP – Deadline, Dec. 15, 2023

The Museum of Motherhood is calling all scholars, artists, and community members for presentations and papers on the subject of mother (and other) blame, shame and pain, with a focus on resistance and healing. This international call for papers invites artists, sociologists, maternal psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, women’s sexuality and gender professors, masculinity studies experts, birth-workers, doctors, researchers, students, and lay-people to share their work. Read full CFP and Submit!

Joy Rose, Founder of The Museum of Motherhood and former Rock & Roller, To Appear on The Naaman Creative Show on November 15! The Naaman Creative Show is a podcast produced by local marketing agency, Naaman Creative, where they interview brilliant minds, explore fascinating journeys, innovative ideas, and impressive accomplishments from the captivating worlds of business, art, music, science, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Listen: https://www.naamancreativeshow.com/

New Member Sign Up at the Fairgrounds St. Pete use code: MOM23 for free game add on at Fairgrounds St. Pete and free Activity Map at MoM. Or sign up here for a new MoM membership for the same perks! Sign up for MoM Membership here and/or follow the link to Fairgrounds St. Pete Memberships. Your pick! We all benefit.

Call For Papers MoM Conference 2024 /The JourMS 2023 is Published & Welcome to our New Intern

Threads of Connection–Sorry/Not Sorry: Confronting mother (and other) blame–healing & resistance in contemporary culture and beyond

St. Petersburg, Florida & Online

March 22-24, 2024

CFP – Deadline, Dec. 15, 2023

The Museum of Motherhood is calling all scholars, artists, and community members for presentations and papers on the subject of mother (and other) blame, shame and pain, with a focus on resistance and healing.

Blame and shame can be self-imposed or projected by dominant social narratives that hyper-focus on the performative nature of motherhood as reinforced by unrealistic hegemonic constructions. This can be true for adult children reviewing familial relationships as well.

This international call for papers invites artists, sociologists, maternal psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, women’s sexuality and gender professors, masculinity studies experts, birth-workers, doctors, researchers, students, and lay-people to share their work.

We encourage presenters to unpack the sociocultural domain of mother (and other) blame and the psychological, personal, professional, and media environment within which this topic is situated. Who is harmed by blame, and whom does it serve? How are oppressive systems reinforced or even sustained? How can we resist or dismantle these systems in large and small ways? What forms of resistance, peace-making, and healing can help improve our relationships?

The conference will serve as a site of resistance and empowerment as we deconstruct, reframe, and affirm the complex landscape of care-work and the ongoing labor within family systems everywhere. We recognize the scale, variance, and duration of these passionate debates and hope to this conference will contribute to the body of knowledge on this subject.

CFP/SUBMIT

Journal of Mother Studies 2023 is Up and Online

Last year’s Annual Academic (and Arts) MoM Conference yielded a marvelous distillation of journal entries on the subject of Reproductive Landscapes, and more. The Journal is now posted online with videos coming soon. MoM’s mission is to serve at the intersection of the arts, scholarship, and the general public, reaching as many women, mothers, academics, and life-long students as possible. We hope you enjoy this year’s edition.

Read the 2023 Journal

Welcome Our Newest Intern

— BIO:
Hello! I’m Lera, a high school graduate from Rostov-on-Don, Russia. I aim to further my studies in college with a minor in Women’s Studies. My heart is set on social justice, art history, creative practice, Ed-Tech, and women’s rights. I am a designer and an artist, and my passion lies in the social application of my skill set. Last year, I began my internship at Borderless, an international Ed-Tech company that democratizes study abroad. I also co-founded She Exhibits, a non-profit gallery that counters gender-based discrimination in art. Additionally, I designed a social zine for an organization protecting women in the North Caucasus. Through these roles, I’ve learned a lot about the challenges women face daily. I’m particularly concerned about how women’s rights are being eroded in contexts of wars, authoritarian regimes, and government policies, such as those in Russia that affect reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. Now, joining MoM as a Graphics & Research Intern, I’m thrilled to deepen my understanding of sociology, women’s rights, and motherhood through working in the vast specter of projects. During my journey at MoM, I’m eager not only to contribute to the women’s rights movement with my expanding skill set but also to further the conversation on motherhood as a daughter of a single mother!

— PASSIONS FOR MOM:
I am eager to spend a fruitful year with MoM, engaging with a broad range of projects, intertwining research and art! My contributions to MoM will include graphic content creation, and enhancement of the visuals of different initiatives. I’m also looking forward to conducting research endeavors and taking on creative projects to serve MoM’s community!

We Love Our Volunteers!

Wanna Join Our Team? Write Us Here

Interview with the Artist, CFP 2024, and JourMS

OUR FIRST MONTH AT THE FACTORY

Wow, what a great and busy month its been! As Second Saturday Art Walk approaches on Saturday, October 17th, MoM celebrates our first thirty days at our new location. We’ve enjoyed international visitors, travelers from around the state of Florida, and families of all ages. We hosted our first baby shower, featured the tours and talks of Sierra Clark (every Tuesday 12-6 and Wed 4-6). Sierra broadcasts live on FB during her last hour at MoM on Wednesdays. If you can’t make it by to visit her in person, look for one of her livestreams 5 PM weekly. Our schedule is shaping up. We’ve put some weekly events on the calendar – some require pre-booking – and some are just walk-on-in. MoM is free and open to the public, by donation. Some events require a pre-payment and it is possible to book out our space on Sundays for private events. We hope to see you soon!

AMY WOLF IG LIVE -Thursday 5:30 PM (EST) @MuseumofMotherhood

We are pleased to announce an ‘Women in the Arts’ interview with Amy Wolf on Thursday, October 5th 5:30PM. We aim to share this live on on IG through @MuseumOfMotherhood. Amy is currently the featured artist at MoM through October. Her ‘wearable artwork’ collection’s theme of “reincarnation/transmutation” is based on her practice of transforming found, reclaimed and ordinary materials into something unexpected. She has shown her work both locally and nationally since 2018 and was a 2023 Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist grantee, as well as a 2021 emerging Florida CraftArt artist. In 2022, she was the recipient of both an individual artist grant from The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and a Gobioff Foundation microgrant. Finally, we are happy to share the news that Amy has been selected to be our Artist in Residence beginning October, 2023- Spring 2024 at the MOM Art Annex. Amy pictured left – performance “disassembled”.

Amy Wolf Wearable Art Fashion Show

WELCOME NEW VOLUNTEERS

Welcome Natalia Malysheva. Natalia was born and raised in Russia. Now she lives in Barbados. Natalia earned a master’s degree in cultural science, is specialist in Russian art, and she graduated the NNGASU university in Russia.
She has worked in museums and art-galleries. Her drive and passion for shooting and editing videos have brought her to MoM as a volunteer. We can’t wait to see what we might co-create together. Stay tuned!

We hosted our first baby shower this week! If you are interested in having your event with us, then please get in touch. Baby showers, period parties, menopause or red tent, just get creative and we’ll facilitate. We can host small circles of just a few people or up to thirty comfortably. Call us at 877-711-MOMS (6667) or use the form at the bottom of the page here. $50 per hour space rental. MoM Loves YOU!

The Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) will be published online Oct. 15th

The Journal of Mother Studies will be published online October 15th. Look for the amazing artists and academics featured in this year’s digital humanities project.

CFP – Annual Academic MoM Conference 2024 – Please Circulate Widely

Threads of Connection–Sorry/Not Sorry: Confronting mother (and other) blame–healing & resistance in contemporary culture and beyond

St. Petersburg, Florida & Online

March 22-24, 2024

CFP – Deadline, Dec. 15

The Museum of Motherhood is calling all scholars, artists, and community members for presentations and papers on the subject of mother (and other) blame, shame and pain, with a focus on resistance and healing.

Blame and shame can be self-imposed or projected by dominant social narratives that hyper-focus on the performative nature of motherhood as reinforced by unrealistic hegemonic constructions. This can be true for adult children reviewing familial relationships as well.

This international call for papers invites sociologists, maternal psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, women’s sexuality and gender professors, masculinity studies experts, birth-workers, doctors, researchers, and lay-people to share their work.

We encourage presenters to unpack the sociocultural domain of mother (and other) blame and the psychological, personal, professional, and media environment within which this topic is situated. Who is harmed by blame, and whom does it serve? How are oppressive systems reinforced or even sustained? How can we resist or dismantle these systems in large and small ways? What forms of resistance, peace-making, and healing can help improve our relationships?

The conference will serve as a site of resistance and empowerment as we deconstruct, reframe, and affirm the complex landscape of care-work and the ongoing labor within family systems everywhere. We recognize the scale, variance, and duration of these passionate debates and hope to this conference will contribute to the body of knowledge on this subject. LINK TO FULL CFP Submissions: https://jourms.org/submit/