Category: Dads

Best of Tampa Bay – MoM July/August Blog!

Post author By MOM
Post date August 6, 2025

Congratulations! After tallying all the nominations, we’re excited to let you know that MoM has officially advanced to the voting round for Best of the Bay 2025!

Last year, over 5 million impressions on the voting website alone for Best of TB. Won’t you join us in making m/otherhood more visible? See a few of our current stats: From Google 30k have viewed our photos, 25k in grant funds released to the Museum of Motherhood for work in the Health, Education and Wellness arena, 5 new Executive Board Members join MoM for a total of 9 Board Members, and four high school interns celebrate paid work with us this summer with extensive programming each month.

Remember: Voting is from July 17th through August 20th! Vote as many times as you can!

VOTE HERE LINK

Upcoming Events

MoM has a full roster of events and a new easily navigable calendar that includes art, health, wellness and education. Also, make sure to register to join us at our upcoming brunch and mini-conference in collaboration with FloridaRAMA. EVENTS PAGE IS HERE.

Lunch and Learn with MoM. The purpose of this mini-conference is to collaborate with local birth workers and healthcare professionals to understand the causes and correlates of challenges to Black women’s maternal health in order to implement changes in Pinellas county. This Museum of Motherhood event is sponsored by FloridaRAMA, organized by Jill M. Wood and the Health, Wellness, and Education Committee. This lunch and learn session will educate attendees about Black maternal health from a holistic perspective using the expertise of these presenters. REGISTER:

Jill M. Wood, PhD, Conference Chair is a Teaching Professor in the department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State where she teaches courses on reproductive justice, girls and women’s health, women’s sexuality, and relationship & sexual violence prevention. As a researcher, Professor Wood has published journal articles and book chapters on the role of alcohol use in sexual behaviors with high HIV risk, menstruation and menopause, & pregnancy and childbirth. The mama of three teenagers, Jill regularly volunteers her time to talk with community students, parents, teachers and staff about relationship and sexual violence prevention, consent education, and healthy relationships. Jill was instrumental in assisting with guidance and advice for MoM’s Escape Womb Experience. She is also the academic coordinator and chair of the brunch and mini-conference Sept 21, 2025.

Courtney West a proud St. Petersburg native and the owner of 3 Gems Birth Services where everyone deserves care. Courtney is a full spectrum doula, doula educator, and a licensed practical nurse with a background in pediatric home health, and mental health nursing.

Shamella “Mel” Joy is a trauma-informed therapist, her background includes working with veterans and refugee families, providing her with extensive experience in helping clients process and heal from past traumas and PTSD. Mel integrate Mindfulness, Holistic Psychotherapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in her work with individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, identity and self-esteem challenges, ADD/ADHD, and childhood trauma. Mel’s passion lies in supporting new parents grappling with the challenges of postpartum life, as well as those facing the uncertainties of fertility struggles and perinatal loss.

Tracie Williams is the proprietor of The Natal Network and the founder of Jehovah Rapha-Jireh Transformation Health Inc. She serves on the Health, Wellness and Education Committee at MOM. The Natal Network, a Tampa Bay-based maternal wellness doula service, was established to enhance maternal-fetal outcomes.

Tracy Cook-Person is a hoodoo practitioner, doula, folk Herbalist, educator, lecturer, professional storyteller and a published poet. She has been an Assistant Professor at LIU in the School of Education and Technology as well as an Instructor of Pedagogy and Clinical Practice for the TR@TC2 program in the Office of Teacher Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

About Museum of Motherhood (MoM)

Museum of Motherhood believes a more comprehensive understanding of pregnancy, birth and the value of caregiving-work will lead to healthier and happier homes, more productive workplaces, and better social policies. Our Black Maternal Health conference will specifically uplift the expertise and insight of Black practitioners working directly with the South St. Pete community. http://www.mommuseum.org LINK to tix

Meet Our Board

Left to right: Regan Moss, Courtney Kessle, Libby Hopkins, Deanna Barcelona, Tracie Williams, Barbara Lynch, Amy Collins, Anna Leiggi, Meagan Welch

MoM is so pleased to welcome five NEW Executive Board Members to our team. See bios and read more on our team page.

New Exhibit

Four young women standing together with smiles, wearing casual attire, in a bright setting. The text 'Caring - St Pete' is prominently displayed in the background. — Caring St Pete Exhibit

Caring St. Pete: 6-Week Summer Intern Project Plan For High School Interns and Community members at the Museum of Motherhood

Project Overview: Explore and interpret the value of caregiving—both unpaid and paid (carework)—through research, storytelling, art, and community engagement. The final product will be a curated exhibit at the Museum of Motherhood. See exhibit page.

Sarah Nellis Residency Museum of Motherhood

MoM Residency August

Sarah Nellis is a multidisciplinary, British artist, working freely across 2D, 3D and time-based media. She reflects on life’s cycles: birth, grief and personal transformation, questioning ideas of permanence and exploring the in-between spaces of change. She seeks to reassert maternal narratives often marginalized in cultural and political discourse.

AMPLIFY

Invitation to the 2nd Annual Women's Empowerment Summit, featuring event details and a colorful design.

MoM Directory

Motherhood & Matrescence is a resource for mothers. Supporting mums to feel more confident. Education services as well as a masterclass is for mothers of all ages and stages. Mothers of tinies, toddlers, tweens and teens. LINK

Activism Birth Blog breastfeeding Caregiving Conferences Dads Education Events Featured health History International JourMS MaMaPaLooZa MOM Conference Mother Studies motherhood

Health, Wellness & Black Maternal Health Week at MoM

Post author By MOM
Post date April 2, 2025

We finished an awesome month of Women’s Herstory activities in March, culminating with the 20th Anniversary MoM Conference (supported by USF) and the MoM Art Auction in partnership (with OXH Gallery).

Our impact over the course of five days was 200 + American and international guests that began with a tour with Girls Rock on Thursday, March 13th at MoM and ended with the MoM Art Auction on March 18th in Tampa.

MoM Art Auction

The Auction remains LIVE through April. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PROMOTE: People can ‘buy now‘ or bid’ as the fundraising continues.

*Thanks to everyone who helped, attended, contributed, and supported. Thanks to our various, hard-working committees. We appreciate our partners and contributing artists especially.

MoM Art Auction in partnership with OXH Gallery

St Pete is continually impressed with our dynamic team. Everywhere I go now, I hear the same thing: “What an amazing team MoM has.” TRUTH!

Congrats are in order for two highly successful networking events organized by Mary Havlock with Hypatia Collective and Working Women Tampa Bay, and attendance at Nerd Nite promoting MoM’s Escape Womb Experience. Meet Mary at monthly play dates. See our Events Page.

Kudos to Sierra for her March Women’s Herstory Events celebrating local she-roes and for bringing CONA(Council of Neighborhood Associations) to the space on March 25th from 6-8PM. Sierra is up to great things in April, kicking off April 8th with an evening of financial awareness for kids and families. Flyer is on the events page and below.

Sierra Clark hosts Health, Wellness and Education workshops at MoM as our Community Empowerment Facilitator

April also brings Black Maternal Health Awareness Week. MoM will host an event organized by USF that involves our Health, Wellness and Education committee members: doula Courtney West as well as award-winning photographer Sara Hunter on exhibit at MoM April 10th 5-8PM with a DJ and refreshments.

Sara Hunter, award-winning photographer on display at MoM

Thanks to Amanda Bartles for her lactation groups on Sundays at noon. We are hoping to replace this activity while Amanda goes on maternity leave. Yay, Amanda!

Barbara Lynch continues to network on our behalf and leveraged another encounter with 16th St Farms for a collaboration while also bringing a book club to MoM.

A University of Tampa Senior, Mary-Margaret Russo has approached us about doing a short documentary on MoM with filming taking place in April. We hope to film all April events culminating with MaMaPaLooZa on Sunday May 4th!

MaMaPaLooZa is Sunday, May 4th in partnership with FloridaRAMA.

We welcome returning sponsor BayFirst Bank.

We still need more volunteers onsite at MoM and we need a bigger board. Cast your nets. We will be focused on a board-building event leveraging the contacts we amassed for the art auction. This will be held in June. Think who you might want to invite or if you wanna join!

A renowned artist from NYC- Raisa Nosova (who contributed to the MoM Art Auction) has asked The Factory owners if she can paint a mural for MoM. The owners said YES – now we are figuring out timing! See her gorgeous design here.

The Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) is open for submissions through May 31. Submit Now!

Currently we have rent paid through August when our lease is up!! This is a HUGE accomplishment. Thank you to all our contributors!

If we could miraculously raise $15k towards next year’s rent in the next 3 months, we will renew the lease for 2026.

Also, I am so grateful for being presented with the ‘Joy Award’ for 20 years of MoM Conference organizing. Thank you Courtney, Brittany and Meagan! This will be my last time leading the conference planning.

From left to right: Beth Charles, Brittany DeNucci, Barbara Lynch, Meagan Welch, Martha Joy Rose, Courtney Kessel

I thankfully gave my notice so that a new team can RISE and is empowered for next year’s academic and arts conference. I will stay on as an advisor only. New Team: Brittany DeNucci, Meagan Welch (also serving as editor to JourMS), Jill M. Wood, Beth Charles, Sonia Meerai, & Batya Weinbaum, Courtney Kessel with Michelle Hughes Miller, Aurelie Athan and myself in advisory roles and Hannah Brockbank advising on the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS).

Health Wellness and Education at the Museum of Motherhood

April 8 (Tuesday 6-7:30PM

EVENT DETAILS: April observation of financial literacy SHEENA QUALLES Founder/CEO/owner at Kidzonomics LLC “Stacks & Future Facts”.

A budgeting workshop that frames financial literacy as a game plan for future success. Helps young people see money as a tool for building the life they want rather than something just for spending.

Kidzonomics mission- cultivating children, understanding of money management to strengthen their financial wellness as adults for program coordinators. Organized by Sierra Clark, Community Empowerment Coordinator. Questions call: 877-711-MOMS (6667)

Thursday, April 10th, 2025

Raising awareness and advocacy for the improvement of maternal health outcomes for Black women, their infants, and families—not just in Tampa Bay, but throughout Florida. We have a fun and informative week of events planned, starting with our Photography Exhibit and Showcase Kick-off Event at the Museum of Motherhood in St. Petersburg, FL, with USF.

Organized by Courtney West, facilitated by Sierra Clark featuring the award-winning birth photography of Sara Hunter.

#BMHWofTampaBay2025

Skills Drill with the Rainbow Midwife and Escape Womb Visit

April 18 5-7PM Sills and Drills with The Rainbow Midwife. The Skills and Drills for birth workers and the people who love them with a tour of the Escape Womb after.

You Must Pre-Register: Call 877-711-MOMS (6667) and leave a message.

May 4th, 10-4PM at The Factory in St Pete

MAMAPALOOZA St. Petersburg 2025 offers a diverse lineup of activities and entertainment for attendees of all ages. Highlights of the event include:

Interactive art installations celebrating the creativity and resilience of mothers with a marketplace featuring local vendors offering handmade crafts, jewelry, and other unique items. Join us as we come together to celebrate the strength, love, and resilience of mothers everywhere. MAMAPALOOZA is a day to honor the past, embrace the present, and envision a brighter future for all families.

CONFIRMED BANDS WITH GIRLS ROCK, ST PETE: Hex Appeal & Anarkitty along with The Rum Syndicate!

Tags Annual academic mom conference, art of motherhood, family, Florida museums, health, journal of mother studies, mamapalooza, Martha Joy Rose, Mother Studies, Motherhood Studies, museum of motherhood, Odeta Xheka, procreate project, st petersburg, The Factory st pete, Women's History Month, womens museums

Activism Blog Books Classes Conferences Dads Education Events Featured Feminism Fundraiser health home International Living Board Announcements Media MOM Art Annex MOM Conference Mother Studies motherhood Opportunities Social Justice Sociology Spiritual Motherhood The Factory, St Pete

Ribbon Cutting at MoM – You Are Invited!

Post author By MOM
Post date January 16, 2025

See our funding partner’s Year-End newsletter FHSP with a feature on MoM. The museum’s reopening celebration will highlight its newest visitor experience, an escape room adventure aptly named MoM’s Escape Womb. Designed to delight visitors age 18 and above (younger with an accompanying parent or guardian), with clues and puzzles about the secrets of life while visitors explore the nuances of conception, gestation and birth. This 60-75-minute Escape Womb health and wellness journey is educational and fun. Read our Press Release here.

Ribbon Cutting

Join us tomorrow, Friday January 17th for a Ribbon Cutting with the St Pete Chamber of Commerce at our new space in The Factory at Noon. Peek at the Escape Womb. Play with us. See you soon. Directions are now here online.

Enjoy CAKE and sparkling water. Thanks to Emmanuel and 15th St Farms – another funded partner of Foundation for a Health St Pete.

Playdate for youngins at 10:30 AM and then Ribbon Cutting at Noon. See you soon!

The MoM Team X O X O

What’s Happening at MoM

Sunday: Amanda Bartles of Lactation Loop– Join us to socialize with other moms and families & take advantage of on the spot breastfeeding education and lactation support available to infants and toddlers. January 19th at noon with MoM. We’d love to make this a regular gathering so please do consider bringing conversations and hangouts w/mothers and others a regular part of our offerings. Please register in advance using this link

January 21st 6-7pm in observation of mentoring month. Jim Oliver (The Village Mentor) Co- Author in Repair of The Black Family Anthology. Event Title: “Guiding Hands: Mentorship for Mothers and Families.” Description: Explore how mentorship can empower mothers and families by providing guidance, support, and tools for success. This event highlights the power of shared experiences and community connections to navigate the challenges of parenting. INFO@MOMmuseum.org. RSVP please: INFO@MOMmuseum.org 877-711-6667.

Health, Wellness and Education events are commencing with Sierra Clark, Amanda Bartles and Courtney West empowered by our funding partner Foundation for a Health St. Pete. Events.

Thanks to Josh Naaman and Naaman Creative for helping with web updates!

Money, money, money – we need it now. We need it bad. We need it to continue paying our rent. If you have access to some, or know someone we are now in emergency mode for the remainder of the year. I know prices are high and people are suffering. All the more reason for just the right match or miracle!

Donate Now

Why MoM Manifesto?

Why MoM? Read My Manifesto Online & More Here: Empowering All Women, Inclusive of All Reproductive Identities.

Thank YOU – See you soon, we hope.

Martha Joy Rose and MoM Team

xoxox <3

Birth Caregiving Dads Events Featured Featured Artists Feminism Fl Fundraiser History International JourMS MAMA MaMaPaLooZa Media MOM Art Annex Opportunities Queering Parenting st petersburg The Factory, St Pete

MoM’s Got Ya, This Month and Every Month…and Forever

Post author By MOM
Post date April 24, 2024

May is coming and May is Mothers’ Month. What do we make of this month of observances at the Museum of Motherhood? Years ago, just over one-hundred years, Mother’s Day was voted into legislation as a national day of observance. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day requesting a proclamation which Woodrow Wilson signed into law.

We are grateful to Bob Eckstein for the release of his most recent book Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums, available to order online, which includes a shout out to the Museum of Motherhood. What an awesome surprise! Thank you, Bob.

The very first American celebration of Mother’s Day was in Grafton West Virginia, organized by Anna Jarvis who wanted a day for families to commemorate their loved ones. Previous versions of a motherhood movement prioritized social involvement for mothers for the betterment of society including peace initiatives like the one that Julia Ward Howe is famous for. In that context, the reading becomes Mothers’ Day (notice the apostrophe) (Read more here).

As the founder of the Museum of Motherhood, I was fortunate to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of Mother’s Day with my own mother, as the featured speaker at the historic landmark St Andrews Methodist Church, which is the International Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton West Virginia. My keynote talk addressed the importance of place, one of the core components of the commitment I feel towards the Museum of Motherhood. Humans need physical places to acknowledge our embodied experiences and to activate memory and cultural identities.

I purposely chose to embrace motherhood as a socially engaged activity involving not just families but the well-being of communities, hence my efforts on behalf of women, mothers and families (inclusive of all reproductive identities) through the years. As a young mom living in New York City, I learned how important friendship and collaboration are. The parks and playgrounds became my home away from home with four children in tow. Those friendships became the bedrock of my life as a mother. These gals were the people I turned to for support, compassion, understanding, and FUN! Since moving to Florida with my now adult children, I still look to my community of women for a shared sense of passion, camaraderie, and the mission of the MoM.

This year, for the first time in many, I said ‘yes’ to Liz Dimmitt at The Fairgrounds St Pete when she suggested we bring a MaMaPaLooZa Festival to Tampa Bay. The festival initiatives, begun in 2002, have worked alongside the Museum of Motherhood to generate more visibility regarding the labor, art, and enterprise of women. This year, marks the first time in over ten years, where I personally agreed to an event outside of MoM. So, in addition to our May fundraising activities at the museum to build a ‘Womb of Our Own‘, the MaMaPaLooZa Festival will take place on May 4th in partnership with The Fairgrounds St Pete at The Factory in Tampa Bay. Hope to see you there or at one of these other opportunities we will be creating this month! ~Martha Joy Rose, Director and Founder; MoM, MaMaPaLooZa

The Journal of Mother Studies: a peer-reviewed, international, interdisciplinary open-access, digital humanities hybrid project.

CFP 2024: Threads of Connection–Sorry/Not Sorry: Confronting mother (and other) blame–healing & resistance in contemporary culture and beyond. Submissions to the Journal are open until May 31st [Link to Submit]. Also seeking lead editor for the 2024 edition. MORE INFO.

The Saint Petersburg Month of Photography in collaboration with the Museum of Motherhood presents the exhibition MOTHER LENS: Four Visions of Motherhood: Mikaela Martin, Jena Love, Águeda Sanfiz, and Angelika Kollin, present their reflections on motherhood with very distinctive voices that range from the visual personal journal, the photojournalistic essay, conceptual photography, and fine art portraiture. [More]

Description: Join us for a day of celebration and empowerment at MAMAPALOOZA St. Petersburg 2024! Hosted at The Factory by MoM and Fairgrounds St. Pete, this event honors and uplifts mothers and caregivers in our community through a dynamic mix of music, art, and camaraderie.

Special thanks to our sponsors: St. Anthony’s BayCare, Great Explorations Children’s Museum, The Barn UPT, and Stephanie Allen Coaching. MAMAPALOOZA St. Petersburg 2024 offers a diverse lineup of activities and entertainment for attendees of all ages. [LINK]

CALL TO ACTION: Join Our Founders Circle- Building MoM in Florida. Calling one hundred friends to invest in the future of Tampa Bay by helping us grow locally. Also, a Womb of Our Own Sculpture – Seeing Red coming this month.

MoM invites you to become join our Founders Circle by making a donation of $1,000 to fund our 2024-25 budget at The Factory in St. Pete. Donate and then help us celebrate the Museum of Motherhood in St. Pete. We invite YOU to join us as we bring this legacy project to its next phase of development. May 8th 6-7:30PM – Please PLEDGE by May 1st using our form here

MaMaPaLooZa Performers – MoMs ROCK! And, so do YOU!

In partnership with The Fairgrounds St. Pete

Event Title: MAMAPALOOZA Family Festival / FB invitation / FB Page

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024

Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Location: The Factory, 2606 Fairfield Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712

Some vendor opportunities still available

Activism Art Caregiving Conferences Dads Education Featured Featured Artists Feminism gender health History Media MOM Art Annex motherhood Policy Social Justice Sociology Spiritual Motherhood The Factory, St Pete

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

Post author By MOM
Post date October 30, 2023

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.

Tags alexia nye jackson, all day, caregiving, carework, economics of motherhood, mother the job

Activism Art Caregiving Dads Education Events Featured Featured Artists Feminism Fundraiser gender History International Media MOM Art Annex MOM Conference motherhood Opportunities The Factory, St Pete

Grand Opening MoM at The Factory

Post author By MOM
Post date September 3, 2023

PRESS RELEASE

WHO: The Museum of Motherhood (MoM) – empowering women and mothers to take their rightful place in the museum world.

WHAT: Motherhood in Motion; embodiment in action- One of four quarterly exhibitions featuring the art, science, and history of women, mothers, and families inclusive of all reproductive identities at our new space in the Warehouse District.

WHERE: The Factory, 2622 Fairfield Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712

WHEN: Grand opening September 9th, 2023 (Second Saturday Art Walk) 6-8PM

HOURS: 12-7 PM (last visitor 6:15PM) Monday-Saturday. Sunday by appointment only.

PH: 977-711-MOMS (6667). INFO@MOMmuseum.org. MOMmuseum.org

Motherhood In Motion; embodiment in action- presents interactive installations that celebrate the transformative journey of women, m/others, and families reimagining women’s place and progress in society.

MORE ABOUT MoM: The Museum of Motherhood (MoM) is the first and only exhibition and education center devoted to the art, science and history of women, mothers and families inclusive of all reproductive identities. MOM is organized and activated by our community. We support evolving, interdisciplinary perspectives within the field of mother studies while working with partners around the world. The MOM Art Annex 501c3 non-profit serves as the incubator for increasing the footprint and impact of MoM in St. Petersburg, Florida. We celebrate the complexities and joys women and mothers as they take their rightful place in the museum world.

Please join us as we celebrate the power and resilience of mothers, others, and families embracing the complex web of interconnectedness that binds us all. Motherhood In Motion beckons visitors to explore, learn, and participate in new narratives that forge a collective future that embodies the values of education, compassion, and care for our planet and for each other.

We are especially pleased to highlight the works of Amy Wolf as our featured artist. 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. In addition to art exhibits, MoM will feature women in history, the science of motherhood, a discussion area, special programming, interactive exhibits, a film by founder Martha Joy Rose, sculptures by Sallie Hackett Brown, and a library as well as a vibrant store focused on MoM’s mission.

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE

Tags Daddy Cool Records, florida, Grand Opening Party, st petersburg, The Fairgound

Art Birth Dads International

Digital Version of MAM Available For Purchase Online

Post author By MOM
Post date November 9, 2020

If you missed purchasing a copy of the beautifully printed Maternal Art Magazine (England), you can now access the digital edition of Issue One: Stay At Home which is available to buy via the MAM website for £5.99. [Link to MAM].

Blogging opportunities are also available through Maternal Art [LINK]

Featured home page image by Jocelyn Allen, The Bump & The Beard (33 weeks) from Waiting For Things In A Time When You Rarely Wait For Things. See more at Jocelyn’s website: https://jocelynallen.co.uk/

Latest blog is here: https://maternalart.com/blog/less-faff-less-flash-by-jocelyn-allen

Tags Digital Art, feature, featured, MAM, Maternal Art Magazine, Mother Arts

Birth Classes Dads Featured gender health History manhattan college Medical motherhood Policy Sociology

Sociology Opens Our Eyes to New Ways of Seeing the World!

Post author By MOM
Post date August 3, 2019

This summer, extreme weather rocks America and pundits debate while August arrives all too quickly. Since July 1st, accounting majors, economics majors, and students of literature have been increasing their knowledge and vocabulary about important issues that affect us all by studying sociology. These students are hard at work exploring theoretical assertions about race, class, and gender in an online summer intensive Introduction to Sociology course, specifically framed around the Sociology of Family.

Using texts that explore gestation, birth, and caregiving, authors Barbara Katz Rothman, Phyllis Chesler, Patricia Hill Collins, and Keisha Goode (to name a few), explore women’s experiences, racial disparities, and gendered labor. This week, we read the latest media stories on wombs, trans-birth, uterus transplants, and self-identified men as mothers. We have all been scrambling for new definitions and fresh ways of thinking about gestation as well as parenting.

As part of a service-learning portion of an Intro to Sociology class, students were asked to take a piece of construction paper or plain white paper and mark in bold words a minimum of 5 words that best describe “mother” and “father”. We have been complicating those basic notions ever since.

Thinking about the authors we are studying assert about biology and gender, coupled with recent medical and policy developments, motherhood is more complicated than ever! The students were invited to revisit their original posters and articulate some of the information that has influenced their perspective in recent weeks. Some of their notes are below:

Words Added:

– Gender Neutral:

· The readings from this week highlighted the problems associated with gendered parenting

· Mothers struggle with work because of the perception that they are obligated to care for their home and children

· Men do not feel obligated to do any parenting work but feel an overwhelming obligation to provide economically for their families

· Both genders are equally capable of parenting in the form of motherhood and fatherhood

· everyone including children would be better off if parental duties were split equally

· All other words on the poster represent things my mother, grandparents, and stepfather did and that I wish my father had participated in

· Not parenting is a personal choice not a gendered choice

– Parent:

· Added for reasons listed above

· Parent should imply the same duties regardless of the parent’s gender

– Present:

· Being present is an essential part of parenthood that I did not think about until I watched “Glen Henry got his Superpowers Through Fatherhood”

– Care:

· “Mothering is most likely done by a female due to our society’s definition of the word ‘mother.’ The action of mothering however is simply caring for another.” [Castaneda and Oware]

– Guide

– Educate

· Guide and educate were both terms I did not think to put until I though in the context of parenthood rather than motherhood

· Gendered expectations affect us all and are very pervasive

Assertion Statement:

Replace motherhood and fatherhood with parenthood

Father
• Tenderhearted
• Empathetic
• Compassionate
• Honest
• Supportive
• Sacrificing
• Wise
“A healthier masculinity can only be achieved if we acknowledge that “Tough” and “Strong” aren’t the only 2 characteristics men can be.”

Tags artificial wombs, Barbara Katz Rothman, Classes, father, gender, Keisha Goode, Mom Classes, mother, Patricia Hill Collins, phyllis chesler, Sociology of Family

Art Dads Featured Feminism

PRESS RELEASE & Partnerships

Post author By MOM
Post date September 29, 2015

September 2015
Project AfterBirth:
21st century pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood in art.

30 international artists. One ground breaking new exhibition.

The triumph of new motherhood. Stillbirth. Full-time fatherhood. Teenage parenthood. Miscarriage. Parenting in a warzone. Bilingual speech development. Post-natal depression.

These are just some of the themes behind the 39 international works showcased as part of Project AfterBirth; the first ever international exhibition on the subject of early parenthood, of which the world premiere will launch at White Moose gallery, North Devon, this October.

Each of the 39 works in the exhibition – which spans across the visual, performance, literary, film and digital arts – were made in the 21^st century and represent personal pregnancy, birth and new parenthood experiences of 30 international contemporary male and female artists. Due to the lingering taboo status of parenthood in the contemporary art world and its perceived inferiority as a subject, most of the works have never been shown publicly before.

At times hilarious and at times deeply moving, the exhibition stands to leave a lasting impression on parents, but will also resonate with anyone in terms of their own individual birth and childhood journeys. The exhibition is also a first in demonstrating the profound influence pregnancy, birth and new parenthood experiences can have on the practice of 21st century female and male artists.

aura James Wray, Bound and Controlled, Project AfterBirth — Laura James Wray, *Bound and Controlled*

Project AfterBirth is the brainchild of Exeter based artist/curator duo Mila Oshin & Kris Jager (a.k.a. Joy Experiment) whose own early parenthood experiences informed their new body of work Passage , published/released this autumn as a poetry collection and music album.

Mila Oshin said:

“The contrast between the representation of pregnancy, birth and new parenthood in the media and our actual lived experiences is starker than ever before, and plays a big part in the increasing sense of isolation felt by 21st century parents. By seeking out and publicly displaying outstanding and highly personal contemporary works of art that reveal the many true faces of parenthood, we hope Project AfterBirth will make its mark in raising the profile of parenthood as we all really know it.”

In spite of Project AfterBirth‘s tight parameters, an international open Call For Artists that took place this Spring resulted in more than 150 works from all over the world being submitted for consideration.

In addition to Mila Oshin and Kris Jager, Project AfterBirth’s exhibition’s selection panel members included Martha Joy Rose (Museum of Motherhood, New York, USA), Helen Knowles (Birth Rites Collection, Manchester, UK), Francesca Pinto (The Photographer’s Gallery, London, UK), and Stella Levy & Julie Gavin (White Moose, Devon, UK).

The Project AfterBirth exhibition premieres at White Moose gallery, North Devon, from 3rd October until 13th November 2015, with the aim to tour to a number of UK, European and USA art spaces and online platforms in 2016-19.

The 30 international artists that will exhibit work as part of Project AfterBirth are:
1. Alison O’Neill (UK)
2. Amanda West (USA)
3. Belinda Kochanowska (Australia)
4. Carole Evans (UK/Switzerland)
5. Chris Anthem (Lebanon/UK)
6. Clare Archibald (Scotland)
7. Courtney Kessel (USA)
8. Csilla Nagy (Hungary)
9. Danielle Hobbs (Australia)
10. Debbie Lee (UK)
11. Eti Wade (UK)
12. Geoffrey Harrison (UK)
13. Helen Sargeant (UK)
14. Hester Berry (UK)
15. Ione Rucquoi (UK)
16. Jana Kasalova (Czech Republic)
17. Jenny Lewis (UK)
18. Josie Beszant (UK)
19. Laura James Wray (UK/South Africa)
20. Lu Heintz (USA)
21. Madison Omahne (USA)
22. Magda Stawarska Beavan (UK/Poland)
23. Marilyn Kyle (UK)
24. Rachel Fallon (Ireland)
25. Rocio Saenz (Mexico)
26. Ruth Gray (UK)
27. Sasha Waters Freyer (USA)
28. Sarah Sudhoff (USA)
29. Tareg Morris (UK)
30. Trish Morrissey (UK/Ireland)

Exhibition: Project AfterBirth: 21st century visions on early parenthood

Gallery: White Moose
Dates: Sat 3 Oct 2015 – Fri 13 Nov 2015
Times: Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 5 pm

Entry: FREE
Location: White Moose, Moose Hall, Trinity Street, Barnstaple EX32 8HX
T: 01271 379872, E: info@whitemoose.co.uk, W: http://www.whitemoose.co.uk

SPECIAL EVENTS: Artist talks, workshops and other activities aimed at various age groups are planned to take place throughout Project AfterBirth’s exhibition at White Moose this Autumn. Please click HERE for more details.

For all PRESS ENQUIRIES please email projectafterbirth@lionartprojects.co.uk

Please LIKE Project AfterBirth on Facebook and/or follow the project on Twitter

For more information, please visit: www.projectafterbirth.com

DOWNLOAD FULL PRESS RELEASE PDF

See also below: Invite to the opening for Hechal Shlomo Biennale, Sept. 30 in Jerusalem

Dads Policy

Tango For Equal Rights

Post author By MOM
Post date June 17, 2015

By, Jenny Nigro; social media intern for M.O.M.

I went to the library recently and took out an adorable book for the boy I nanny for. I’d read the book, And Tango Makes Three, before, but sharing it with him made it all the more special for me. The story is based on true events that took place several years ago at the Central Park Zoo. There, in the beloved penguin house, two male penguins began a years-long courtship and exhibited the nesting behaviors that are typical of expecting chinstrap penguin parents. Eventually, one of the zookeepers decided to give the couple their own egg to nurture and the penguins became the proud fathers to a fuzzy chick. They named her Tango because, as the book notes, “it takes two to make a Tango.” (Like I said, absolutely adorable).

No longer at the Central Park Zoo to visit, Tango’s daddies drifted apart over time and Tango was even said to have entered in a courtship with another female penguin. Their story (and subsequent book and play), though, has had a more lasting legacy – and has been the subject of much debate in family discourse. Some groups sought to ban the book immediately and protest the pairing of the penguins with their cherished little Tango egg. Others rallied around this model of parenting to assert that gay mating/parenting rituals do not defy the natural order.

The story of Tango’s dads shows us that different forms of courtship and parenting occur across nature, a phenomena which is also visible at the popular NYC Museum of Sex. MoSex, as it is shortened to, has devoted an entire exhibition to exploring the multi-faceted nature of animal sex and the “evolutionary benefits of non-reproductive sex for both individuals and social groups within the animal kingdom.” A recent visit to the museum led to my discovery of Tango’s story on display there. It turns out that our concepts of animal behavior, parenting instinct, and what it looks like to make a family have been overturned by one little chick.

With the nationwide legalization of gay marriage debate on-deck for the US Supreme Court, we will no doubt see more LGBTQ couples embark on their path to marriage and familyhood. So what can we expect for the family as we know it? Well, as research and public interest stories would indicate, most likely good things. A few years ago, a study that followed several children of lesbian couples over the span of two decades asserted that children of lesbians are psychologically better adjusted than their peers. And who can forget Zach Wahls’ touching appeal to the Iowa legislature to protect civil unions? Though little had been studied on children raised by two male parents, my sister recently did a scholarship review on studies that have looked at these models of parenting and they had similar findings: families with two daddies tend to have happy, well-adjusted kids.

So I look forward to seeing the next happy, well-adjusted generation of babies, both human and penguin, in a (hopefully) post-legalized marriage equality world. And maybe in this moment in history, it will take nine to make a tango…or at least a majority.

Tags civil unions, dads, gay marriage, LGBTQ, museum of motherhood, Tango Makes Three, Zach Wahls