Category: Featured

Categories
Activism Art Blog Caregiving Conferences Education Featured Featured Artists gender International Literature MOM Art Annex motherhood Residency Social Justice Sociology st petersburg USF

New Team Members, Interns, Residencies, Earth Day, Submission Prizes, Oh My!

Spring has sprung! But first, ‘About My Mother:’ Submit your poem or short story about your mother by April 30th for a Mothers’ Day publication with MoM on our Blog, Newsletter and Social Media. Submit via word document, 1,000-2,000 words for the short story/essay. Poems of any length. First prize is $50 for the story. Poem is $25 and the runner up gets love and publication too. Share widely, just one week left! Send to: INFO@MOMmuseum.org

Thank You Authentic Florida for including us on your website as we approach May (Mothers’ Month). MoM is working hard to increase memberships – 300 in the next 3 months! See our special offer and JOIN OUR FLOCK! We are grateful to work with Melanie Lentz-Janney at Authentic Florida towards this mutual goal of sharing information and cool stuff to do in the Sunshine State. Authentic Florida.

Welcome New MoM Facilitator Sierra Clark

Welcome Sierra Clark our new Empowerment Facilitator at MoM. Her workshop designs- based on her chapter “From Sweet Nothings to Sweet Everything” in Repair Of The Black Family as part of the edited collection by Nayyirah Muhammad- are transformational. We are all better for her leadership and strong voice! More about Sierra at www.sierraclark.life

INTERNS

April has us bustling with a new group of amazing interns from around the world. Please welcome these amazing international collaborators (from left to right):

Audrey Paquet-Frey: My name is Audrey Paquet-Frey, I’m a 32-year-old Master’s degree student from the TEMA+ program 2021-2023, an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree program. I am currently in Paris at the EHESS completing my degree. Prior to this program, I did a bachelor’s degree at the Université Laval in Canada, Québec in historical sciences and heritage studies in museology, ethnology, and archeology. During my studies, I worked at the Canadian museum of history from 2015 until 2020, where I worked in the photographic archives divisions and the documentation of artefacts divisions. So why am I doing an internship at the Mom Museum? Simply because in the last years I’ve developed an interest in museum communities and especially now with the new museum definition from ICOM (International Councils of Museums) redirecting their attention to communities and the public, I felt it was time to explore that avenue. After this Master’s, I hope to be able to create an online museum directed at and for different communities of women to empower them through their immaterial heritage and their collective memory. I would like to give a voice to different communities of women through online exhibits. I hope to learn a lot from this internship and to be able to apply it to my future projects.

Megan Hsu: I will be assisting MoM with identfying, researching, and applying for local or national grants in order to assist with fundraising efforts that can further assist MoM in being able to achieve its goals and create deeper connections with the local community. A native of Tampa, FL, Megan (she/her) is in her final year at the University of Florida, where she is pursuing a double major in International Studies and Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics along with a minor in European Union studies. A lifelong student, she believes that education never ends and is always eager to learn more about the world around her. She has worked with non-profit organizations in the past and is excited to devote her skills to MoM and its mission of educating and celebrating women and mothers of all reproductive identities.

Clea Dobrish: I am Clea Dobrish, a junior at Eckerd College studying Sociology and Women and Gender Studies. Especially with the political climate, it is more important than ever to join together and educate ourselves and others about feminism and gender studies, this is my main goal through this internship. Working with the EC Feminist club on campus has ignited a passion in me to further my education on the matter as well as helped me find my calling in helping people desexualize and accept how amazing their bodies are through the events done on campus. I hope to bridge the gap between Eckerd and MoM by helping others get internships here and collaborating with the feminist club. I also hope to learn about and assist with grant writing for MoM.

REMOTE RESIDENCY AT MoM

Yes, it is possible to do a Remote Residency at MoM. It’s also possible to have a remote internship at MoM as well! Apply through our website on the appropriate page, work with your institution, and make progress on your project through interactions with the Museum of Motherhood and Director, Martha Joy Rose.

Christina Doonan PhD: is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Gender Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. Her research interests include the politics of health, human rights, the right to health, and motherhood and parenting in the context of chronic illness.

My current project, “Mothering Through Cancer,” explores how breast cancer affects motherhood for mothers of young children, and how mothering young children affects the experience of cancer. Taking my own experience as a starting point, I am interested in how idealized versions of motherhood work in both directions, influencing what mothers expect of themselves as they experience cancer and what others expect of mothers—and how this translates into the types of supports that mothers receive (or not).I first presented a portion of this work at the M.O.M. Conference in 2022: “Creativity for a Cause.”I felt invigorated by the supportive feedback I received from the M.O.M. community.Staying in touch with the project has been difficult given the dual demands of work and reproductive labour.My residency with M.O.M. this week allows me to reconnect with and refocus on this project and give it the time that it deserves. Thank you to Joy and Tracy for arranging the details and for welcoming me so warmly. I’m grateful and delighted to be here as part of this vital community! (Christina is pictured about with her husband Lincoln and MoM Director, Martha Joy Rose).

Categories
Activism Art Blog Education Featured Featured Artists Feminism History International Living Board Announcements MOM Art Annex MOM Conference Sociology Spiritual Motherhood USF

OPEN CALL: SUBMISSIONS for a special online publication at MoM for our Mothers’ Day Blog.

For a limited time only, OPEN CALL : SUBMISSIONS for a special online publication at MoM for our Mother’s Day May Blog. But first, about the photo here at the top of the page. We inherited an ugly cement wall. What did we do? Make it beautiful! Thank you Batya for your gorgeous residency and ongoing mural work, now viewable in the annex gardens. Read more at the bottom of the blog!

Submit a story about your mother. 1,500-2,000 words or poem (any length).

Our team will review all entries and we will select one special story, one runner up, and one poem for publication online for our May Mother’s Month Blog, social media and Newsletter issue.

The prize is $50 first place only / Poem is a separate award $25

We know you are ALL winners and we are excited to hear your creativity and legacy productions.

Submit by April 30th midnight via email by midnight. Include Title and Bio with Submission in word document: INFO@MOMmuseum.org

THE MONTH OF MARCH RECAP

Community is where it’s at – even as technology rises, we must remember our humanity, our earth bodies, and our mother planet. HAPPY EARTH DAY IN APRIL!

March was busy with gatherings focused on food health, motherhood, sisterhood, meditation, poetry, and outdoor mural making. Thanks to Jeff Herman, Leslie Culbertson, and Yusuke Ouchie from Creative Grape, and gratitude to Localtopia, Winter in the Woods, AEHK Studio Tour, Tombolo Books, YesChefVillage, Gloria Muñoz, our Conference Attendees, Mothers’ Group and MoM Facilitators: Its been a GREAT season for MoM.

Over the course of the past year, we have joined in events with direct engagement opportunities equalling 40,000 + people.

We have partnered with groups from ages 1-80 yrs old that include people in recovery, local high school students, housing insecure individuals, and those seeking education on the subject of healthy food to feminist studies. Those smaller groups, have totaled in the hundreds.

What Next?

Where are the women’s stories and spaces? We are only 10 % of school text books and 13% of museum exhibits.

Our lives are an inspiration. They are a miracle. They are each and everyone great. How can we illuminate the vacuum, fill the voice, reverberate with intention?

Help us honor these stories. Help us keep going. Help us be Visible, Solvent, and Celebrated. We Thank you! We are you! We need you to thrive! Together we are strong, together we rise, together we love. Help us continue our work by becoming a legacy donor.

DONATE

THE ANNUAL ACADEMIC & ARTS CONFERENCE ROCKED!

REPRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES– The conference saw participants from England, Australia, South Africa, Canada, USA, Poland, South America, Israel, Spain, and Ireland. Videos and papers to come. Find out more by accessing the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) and upcoming announcements about these scholarly works. The CFP for the Journal of Mother Studies is open through April 30th. SUBMIT.

Here are a few concepts to mull over (from my notes):

Can we mother a ghost? Rebecca Marcelina Gimeno

Not every pregnancy results in the birth of a child – Laura Bissell

Human care is anchored in communal activities – Sara Sudhoff

Mothering is invisible – Kate Golding

Batya Weinbaum, b. 1952, is a Jewish American visual artist and award-winning writer from Cleveland Heights, OH and Floyd, VA, and artist-in- residence at MOM Dec 3 2022-Mar 31, 2023. Her first mosaic art project was a feminist installation of fertility and warrior goddesses, Feminina Sube, Isla Mujeres, 2013-2020. A film about this magical shrine to the goddess can be seen on YouTube by typing in Dr. Batya Weinbaum. She got her doctorate at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, founded the journal Femspec, and has spoken frequently at Radical Feminist Perspectives of Women’s Declaration International. More of her art can be seen at goddessvibe.org.

Special Shout Out to Brittany DeNucci & All Our Fab Volunteers!

Special shout out to Brittany DeNucci who stepped in to run tech for us a MoM during the conference. She’s also been hard at work editing the conference videos. We are so grateful for all Brittany’s contributions. THANK YOU to all our incredible interns, volunteers & team members!

KEEP ROCKIN’ IT!

Love, Love, Love,

Martha Joy Rose, Director

Categories
Art Birth Blog Conferences Education Featured Feminism gender health History International JourMS

MoM Conference, New Friends, and Volunteers: Featured Banner Art by Sally Butcher

The Annual Academic MoM Conference takes place this weekend, March 24-26 on Zoom and in person in St. Petersburg, FL. This annual event has been ongoing since 2005 with participants around the globe spearheading research, art, and autoethnography on women, mothers, families (and men), since its inception.

Some of this pioneering work has been featured in the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS). All of this work has been highlighted within academic institutions. This year, however, the privately-funded conference is taking place in a modified-hybrid setting. As the ramifications of the pandemic take its toll, as women push back on hard contractions of basic human rights, and as mother’s struggle to survive and thrive, MoM is not without its struggles.

Specifically, the ongoing work of development of the museum initiative regularly encounters seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Like every non-profit, we struggle with funding for our ongoing needs and growth. We implement plans for progress and experience push-back from unseen sources, or suffer from public attitudes that wish to ignore the history of women, the stories of mothers, and the invisible labor of caregivers. Yet, still we persist.

We are not without successes, even in the midst of challenges. The Mother Tree fundraiser is exceedingly close to being finalized. Only $4,000 to go! Together we can reach that goal! Additionally, our infrastructure is growing with team Salesforce facilitating new levels of internal organization here at the non-profit MOM Art Annex. We have over a dozen volunteers from around the world working on a variety of museum initiatives and exhibitions (Pictured below). And, last, but not least, forty presenters sharing their research and expertise at this year’s Reproductive Landscapes MoM Conference this weekend representing work from Israel, the US, South Africa, England and more. We look forward with excitement to hearing their voices, seeing their work, and celebrating their achievements. MoM is about making women’s work visible!

If you are interested in joining us online or in person for any portion of the conference, we ask three things:

Pre-Register: INFO@MOMmuseum.org or by calling 877-711-MOMS (6667)

Specify: if you would like a Zoom link or to attend on Saturday, in person at Creative Grape 9-5, with a dinner to follow.

Make a Donation (Follow Link or use QR reader on poster – pictured left).

The schedule for the conference is online here

This is how we do it:

And TEAM! Thanks to Sally Butcher, art for banner.

About Sally’s Art:

Infertile Platitudes of Embodied Emptiness

These pieces attempt to make visible a feminist narrative of infertility as a challenge to traditional modes of reproduction and patriarchal conventions of a “natural” maternal subject. During fertility treatment you are situated within biological and cultural ideas of gestation, but embody a seemingly empty, craving, sub-maternal form, in an ongoing process of becoming. Reminiscent of the visualising technologies to which we have become so accustomed throughout the reproductive period, these images do not show a uterine projection, but the outside of the abdomen. There is an impenetrable surface, marked with the umbilicus (belly button) as a symbol of the originary maternal connection, now striving to mother another. With a body full of hormones and a mind exhausted by constant thoughts of an unattainable state of pregnancy, the innocent platitudes you endure over this time remain monotonous and hollow in their own embodied emptiness.

Sally Butcher Art
Categories
AEHK Art Education Featured Feminism gender History International Internships JourMS Media MOM Art Annex MOM Conference Opportunities Residency st petersburg

Young Feminists Unite

Doesn’t matter where you’re from, social initiatives toward equality and justice continue. Black History Month has presented many opportunities for learning. Here at MoM, we’ve shared information from with our students, partnered to create events putting Black-owned businesses at the center, and continued with a commitment to share broadly and loudly a commitment to empower all humans equally from all walks of life. For example we have shared widely MoM’s proximity of The Woodson African American Museum in St. Pete to MoM and admiration for Carter G. Woodson and his journey. We take that journey to heart and invest similarly in women’s rise within Women’s History Month.

MoM affirms that one person’s security, safety, and serenity need never jeopardize another’s. There is room for everyone to seek harmony on this earth, but not when primitive thinking rules. Mother loves all her children, even if humans fall short of this golden rule all too often.

News of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) failing yet again in its ratification is heartbreaking. The twenty-eighth amendment which bans discrimination based on sex was first introduced in 1923 and was passed by Congress fifty years later, it has yet to be ratified. Subsequent pushes to see it through have failed. It is disappointing to bring this most recent development to your attention on the first day of Women’s History Month after a Federal Appeals Court rejected the case only days ago.

Welcome MoM Projects and Our New Intern: Yana

This spring we have multiple projects in the works. Some are spearheaded by interns from around the world. Dr. Hannah Brockbank (England) is leading a team that includes Laura Gabrielle (USA) and Yana S. (Russia; read more below) towards the first of several online classes, we are developing and hope to be offering at MoM later this year, while Victoria Wright continues research on a breastfeeding exhibit for her final Master’s project with MoM.

Locally, in St. Petersburg, the AEHK Studio Tour takes place on March 18 & 19 all day long. Intrepid visitors can wander Historic Kenwood and see the amazing art studios of its residents, including MoM’s own Martha Joy Rose’s works. Jenilee Dowling leading a Mothers’ Moon Circle on March 21st at 7 PM instead of our regular morning meetup onsite in the garden at 10 AM. All other meetings this month are at the usual time. Then, the weekend of March 24-26 is the Annual Academic & Arts MoM Conference. Presenters from around the world share their work on the changing world of reproductive landscapes. Contact us to fine out more. Stick with us. Lots to come!

Hi everyone! My name is Yana S. I’m a high school graduate who plans to major in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at college, and pursue a social impact career – hopefully in public interest law or public policy work – in the future. I’m confident that my time with the MoM would be a truly transformative experience, and I can’t wait to work in the areas about which I’m truly passionate.

We look forward to bringing you lots of stories about Women’s History (or HERstory) this month!! Stay tuned. Also, we hope to see some of our local friends on Friday, March 3 for YesChefVillage dinner 6-7:30 PM at 538 28th St. N. in St. Pete. The dinners are free. The community is awesome. Meet Chef Omaka and friends. RSVP 877-711-MOMS (6667) pls.

We 3/4s of the way towards purchasing the Mother Tree for our permanent collection! Only $8,000 left to go, with $17K already raised! Help us meet this goal. Join this legacy production today.

We APPRECIATE YOU! Every dollar helps us rise to the occasion of our own success as we prove ourselves as THE destination for the art, science, and history of women, mothers, and families. DONATE NOW!

Thanks to Cait McVey/Spectrum Bay News 9 for the recent news story, March 1, 2023: St. Pete museum celebrates the history of mom. Martha Joy Rose’s new venture for the City of St. Pete is the Mom Museum, carefully curated with all things mother. LINK

Categories
Activism Education Events Featured health History Media MOM Art Annex MoM Pop Up st petersburg

Localtopia, V-Day, YesChefVillage, and More…

Today is V-Day. It’s a time for lovers, a time for mothers, and a time for social change. Valentine’s Day, the holiday, is an age-old tradition. According to historians, Valentine’s Day originated in ancient Rome, stemming from a Pagan celebration called the feast of Lupercalia, a festival of fertility and purification. NPR states:

“The Roman romantics “were drunk and naked.” According to Noel Lenski, a religious studies professor at Yale University, “Young women would line up for the men to hit them.” They believed this would make them fertile. The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day

The festival was made more civilized through subsequent interpretations. Ultimately, the pagan influences were reduced, Christianity took over, and the story of the martyred St. Valentine preaching in Rome was added. The holiday took on new meaning; Less debauched, still fertility, or love-based, and romanticized by people like Shakespeare, it ultimately became the cultural and commercial event we recognized today.

For those romantics who might be focused on learning to love themselves, there are other lessons to be had. For example, coupledom is no longer top priority for some Gen Z and millennials. According to The Knot, post-pandemic trends are leaning towards prioritizing health and wellness over serial dating. In fact, according to statistics 75% of Gen Z are single as opposed to 44% of millennials who are married (source). Additionally, focusing on social movements like BLM and green-sustainability rank high on the list of priorities.

“Through the pandemic, a lot of people have prioritized wellness, particularly in terms of their physical fitness, and their mental fitness, and their consumption habits.”

Source: https://www.theknot.com/content/dating-trends

I guess we have come a long way from the debauched Roman holiday of old. In fact, now we even have pushback with organizations like Eve Ensler’s V-Day, One Billion Rising, an organization begun with “a mass action to end violence against women in human history.” The movement addresses the “staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women will be beaten or raped during her lifetime.”

Today, MoM rises, along with One Billion Rising to honor 10 years of One Billion Rising and 25 years of V-Day. We join in the campaign today in 2023, which has been declared a year of INSPIRATION and ASPIRATION.

According to V-Day, this will be “A year of storytelling, building communities, strengthening solidarity, sharing dreams, planting trees, creating art, honoring women and the earth, and of dancing.”

It is the year MoM will continue “to ENVISION and CREATE new ways of being, seeing, living, loving and connecting. Of raising consciousness and deepening understanding. So that our freedom, our future, is rooted in truth, love, community, earth and body.” (Source: One Billion Rising).

To that end, join our collaboration with YesChefVillage, bringing free, healthy food to communities seeking access to dining resources and connection. This Friday, Feb. 17th, 6-7:30PM will be our second dinner with Chef Omaka and his team. You can write us INFO@MOMmuseum.org to attend, fill out the RSVP form on our website, or just show up!

Then, Saturday, Feb. 18th, come see us at Localtopia in St. Petersburg, FL, a celebration of all things local. Our booth will be in area #7, The Family Village, and we will be sharing more love, more connections, and more information and education about our mission locally. Today, LOVE EVERYBODY! Love, MoM!

  • YesChefVillage
  • Mural Tour
  • YesChefVillage Team
  • YesChefVillage Dinner
  • YesChefVillage Hangin
Categories
Education Events Featured Feminism health History International MOM Art Annex MoM Pop Up Social Justice Sociology st petersburg

Joy Report; V-Day and More in February 2023

February is the month of Black History, V-Day Love, and Susan B. Anthony Day. How do all these things intersect? Let’s try to connect the dots.

Black History month was codified into law in 1986. Championed by Carter G. Woodson, the ‘father of Black history’ with an agenda to promote Black studies, history, and culture, “Woodson’s goal from the very beginning was to make the celebration of Black history in the field of history a ‘serious area of study.” (Source). He spent his whole life working towards this goal.

As it turns out, the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum is 2.7 miles from the MOM Art Annex in the city of St. Petersburg. This is just one more reason St. Pete is an awesome place to develop our mission here in Pinellas County Florida. We sure do appreciate our neighbors. Next time you stop in to visit us, make sure to schedule a visit at the Woodson Museum too!

And now, with the month of love upon us, let’s give a big shout out for February 14th. Might we propose a renewed focus on brotherly and sisterly love this Valentines Day? Might we push back on violence in this wildly radicalized world. This secular event is celebrated worldwide as a day of affection and romance, yet humans have so much more to improve upon.

Here at MoM: We push back on war. We push back on aggression and lies. We push back on book banning, oppression, and hate speech. We acknowledge the lives lost to violence, the misguided ‘othering’ of individuals, and the patriarchal constructs that continue to dominate our world culture. This year on the 14th, we celebrate the V-Day Movement, One Billion Rising, an activist organization that emerged out of the Vagina Monologues by Even Ensler on Feb. 14, 1998 to stop violence of all kinds around the planet.

Then, rising up on February 15th is Susan B. Anthony‘s birthday. We honor her on this remembrance day for her commitment to suffrage during the first wave feminist movement in the United States. Her work with Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass and others, as both an abolitionist and then working on behalf of women for the right to vote, are seminal. Though these partnerships were complicated, Anthony a ‘woman’ and Douglas a ‘Black man’ are both significant figures in the early emancipation movements. Remarkably, Anthony’s birthday is a state holiday in Florida. I am proud to say that I still hold the Susan B. Anthony award by NOW-NYC, which proudly hangs in my office at the Annex. See more about the feminist waves below in our Flash Feminism slide show!

  • Flash Feminism One
  • Flash Feminism Two
  • Flash Feminism Three
  • Flash Feminism Four
  • Flash Feminism Five

What’s next? A lot, it turns out. This Friday, we will be hosting a dinner with YesChefVillage onsite here at MoM. Sunday, February 5th is a sold-out Feminist Pizza Party in our garden to benefit the public arts initiative in Kenwood. I look forward to continuing my work with the St. Pete High School Feminist Club with several projects including this simple booklet introducing the four waves of feminism to students of all ages (See slide show above). I also have the privilege of overseeing detailed projects with interns conducting advanced scholarship in the area of mother studies from around the world! Finally, MoM will be participating in Localtopia 2023 with our own table and information about launching our capital building campaign, while hopefully finalizing the acquisition of the Mother Tree statue. These are just a few of our offerings this month at MoM. Looking forward to the intersections that connect us. See some of our recent tour participants here 🙂 Please donate to our success if you can!

With Love Always, All the Time; Martha JOY Rose, Founder/Director MoM

Download Flash Feminism PDF
Categories
Conferences Featured International Internships JourMS Literature

Welcoming 2023 Interns & Other Activities in the New Year

MoM is pleased to welcome three new remote interns from around the country, three local high school students, and one high school student from Russia to our projects in 2023.

Two of our local high school students are from the St. Pete Feminist Club. They are working on re-organizing the library and then onto a group project to bring back to the school in March for Women’s History Month. We are also pleased to be working with a third student on graphics to enhance MoM’s ability to create merchandise relevant to our messaging. Our fourth student, working remotely from Russia, will be facilitating data collection on some of the other student’s projects. This is all super fun and exciting.

Next up, Gia and Abbey. (FYI, our feature on Laura (and Maria) ran in November. She’ll be following up on the work of Maria to help create a simplified version of our online coursework this Spring).

Hello everyone! My name is Gia and I am an undergraduate student at Rollins College majoring in art history and minoring in history. I plan to graduate next year and look forward to working in an art/history museum. I chose to start my internship journey at the Museum of Motherhood because of my interest in women and gender studies in the art world. I look forward to all the new ideas I will learn during my time here!

During the spring semester, I aim to create a timeline from the 1960s to the present that connects some of the ever-changing ideas of feminists, mothers, and artists. There will be an inclusion of artworks that I deem to perfectly express the feeling and stigma of motherhood during each decade. I am hoping to map this digitally and set it up as a digital project that others can contribute to as well.

My name is Abbey Wrobel. I’m a current senior at the University of Utah studying history. I am especially interested in women’s history. I plan on attending grad school after I graduate to continue my history education. My dream is to one day be a history professor who specializes in teaching women’s history.

During my time with MoM, I will be working with an editorial team to co-create the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS), 2023 issue. I have already begun to collate the submissions to the spring MoM Conference and the journal. Now Joy is looking for a lead editor for the project who can spearhead the process. I am looking forward to learning from them over the summer as we work to make the journal happen and get it published.

Two Event Reminders

If you’ve been in touch at all with us in the new year, then you’ve probably talked with Connie, our new Membership Director. While we are still ironing out our system-wide forms, we are getting there! If you are having trouble RSVPing to something or need help with any of our online forms, then please contact Connie@MOMmuseum.org

  • -Join us for a Feminist Consciousness Raising Sunday, Jan 8th in person or on Zoom
  • RSVP to attend one of our Mothers’ Club meetups
  • -Register & Pay the Earlybird special for the MoM Conference 2023 (thru Jan 15th)
  • –RSVP for everything here.
Categories
AEHK Art Digital Media Internships Education Events Featured Featured Artists Feminism gender History International Internships JourMS MAMA MOM Art Annex MOM Conference motherhood Residency Sociology Spiritual Motherhood

Final PUSH to 2022 Fundraising Goals and A Big Move!

Donate To MoM

This is our final countdown to the Mother Tree Fundraiser in 2022. As of now, we are over halfway to our goal of purchasing this one-of-a-kind artwork from world-renowned paper-maker Helen Hiebert, on loan to MoM until June 2023. We have raised $13,300 towards the purchase price of $25,000. That means only $11,700 left to go! Won’t you help us clinch the deal? The Mother Tree is a seven-foot high handmade sculpture installation featuring single strands of thread which have been crocheted by over 400 participants around the world. Helen is an internationally acclaimed artist, author and educator. The Mother Tree is currently onsite at the MOM Art Annex. She is impactful, lovely, and represents the connection we have to the earth, our families, and our community. Any amount, no matter how small, helps us to secure her for our permanent collection. Your name will be added to the webpage and also onsite at MoM. You can write a check, donate through Paypal or go through our GoFundMe. We thank YOU!

Read on to see all our successes in 2022 and see what we hope to achieve in 2023.

This year we commenced with BIG goals at MoM. In addition to branded content, thanks to our summer interns, we revamped our mission statement to maximize inclusivity while staying true to our goals of elaborating on the art, science, and herstory of m/others.

We recommitted to serving up visible, educational, and inspiring offerings by conducting onsite tours on a regular basis. These tours oftentimes included children. We added to our collections and exhibits, built a vestibule to better enable visitors to view our interior space regardless of pandemics, and held postpartum groups and mothers’ playdates in our garden.

Easy QR MoM Donation with Stripe (Secure Payments)

New team members came on board. Specifically, we welcomed legal advice from local lawyer Larry Dillahunty, and are most pleased to be working with Deborah Gelch in the position of Strategic Advisor, Elena Rodz in website development, Marcile Powers as Arts Facilitator, and Connie Burgess as our new Membership Director and Community Laison.

We continued with our Residencies both remote and onsite, as well as our internship program, adding four new interns poised to start work in the new year. Our international relationship with MAMA collaborators continued, bringing online art exhibits from around the world.

We heartily thank the neighborhood of Historic Kenwood and the Artist Enclave for their great work on the Studio Tour as well as Winter in the Woods, and Bohemia Night at (Kenwood Gables) which MoM participated in, and also want to shout out to SPACEcraft for including us in their latest round of installations in St. Pete, and St. Pete High School for inviting MoM to present at the Art & Feminist Club.

One piece of big news is that our director, Martha Joy Rose took up permanent residence in Florida this year, relinquishing her NY-based teaching job at Manhattan College and further cementing her commitment to MoM locally in St. Petersburg.

We thank you Living Board 2022, Zabrina Shkurti, Nicole Musselman, and two-term Residency Coordinator Tracy Sidesinger. The Annual MoM Conference and the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) are ongoing with this year’s hybrid conference scheduled for March 24-26. (Join us online or in person).

This year, we wrote two grants: one was denied and we are waiting to hear on the second one. We received one anonymous foundation award in the amount of $1,000, and we thank all our new members and donors! While our needs are great, as is the case with many non-profits, we have persevered through geographic moves, personnel changes, pandemics, and great and we have SURVIVED and THRIVED!

MoM belongs to you – the public, our members, and our community. Please consider getting involved or making a donation today. Use our donation link or checks can be sent to 538 28th St. N St Petersburg, Florida 33713. Help us GROW!

Donate To MoM
  • SPACEcraft, Photo by Sandra Sonik
  • Marcile Powers, Photo by Sandra Sonic
  • SPACEcraft, Photo by Sandra Sonic
  • SPACEcraft Mama!
  • SPACEcraft, Joy and Connie
  • SPACEcraft founders Mitzi Gordon & Carrie Boucher
  • Journal of Mother Studies
  • Martha Joy Rose, St. Pete High School
  • Bohemia Night, Kenwood Gables
  • Bohemia Night Kenwood Gables
  • Tour MoM Alexis Baum
  • New Art
  • MoM Postpartum Group
  • Deborah Gelch and Connie Burgess
  • Feminist Club
  • MoM’s Playdate
  • MoM Playdate
  • Playdate at MoM
  • MoM Merch
  • Winter in the Wood
  • Winter in the Wood
  • Gloria Munoz- St Pete Poet Laureate and former MoM Resident
  • MoM Tour w/Family
  • Babies are the Future!
  • Summer visits/ Birth Chair
  • Friends from NY Visit MoM
Categories
Art Birth breastfeeding Classes Featured Featured Artists Feminism History Residency Spiritual Motherhood st petersburg

Batya Weinbaum, Goddesses, and the Season of Light

‘Tis the season of grace and friendship. Let us shine our lights brightly and wide. Let us reflect on the past as we approach the new year. Let that include in our reflections a little understood, often neglected vast herstory of Goddess-wisdom from within the pagan evolutions of this holiday season rooted in mystical wisdom and earth worship.

As the director of the MoM for almost twenty years, I have met with academics, artists, and m/others from around the world. They often share elaborative perspectives on women’s issues, family studies, and feminism. I often meet people who have lived experiences vastly different than my own. They always inspire.

For example, artist, scholar, and Femspec editor, Batya Weinbaum arrived onsite at MoM for a month of mural-making and herstory speaking at the beginning of December. Everyday, there is some new story. Beginning with her early years in Manhattan as a young feminist participating variety in consciousness-raising collectives to her systematic sharing of stories of art-making and land-living. Batya regularly teaches college coursework, hosts online art circles, and speaks at international gatherings. For me, she has become a wise, welcome daily fixture onsite at MoM, where young families regularly visit to hear her stories and where we collaborate on some art-sharing circles.

  • Batya Weinbaum Mural at Museum of Motherhood
  • Batya Weinbaum Mural at Museum of Motherhood
  • Batya Weinbaum Mural at MoM
  • Feminist Circle Art-Making at MoM
  • Family Hannukah in the Feminist Playhouse
  • Batya Weinbaum

Batya is a graduate of Hampshire College and a mosaic muralist acclaimed for an eight year art installation project on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, where images of fertility goddesses from around the world and across cultures were assembled in large figurines in order to lend strength to the Maya fertility goddess, IxChel. Her work elaborates on the Neolithic period, influenced by the works of Marija Gimbutas, Riane Eisler, Monica Sjoo (The Great Cosmic Mother) and Elizabeth Barber (Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years), who discuss periods of human history when motherhood was not a liability but something to be revered.

While visiting the MOM Art Annex, she will be constructing a fertility goddess mural from 6000 BCE. She believes women need to get in touch with origin myths in order to be strong women today. I agree!

This energy is significantly meaningful for students of all ages. Beyond contemporary celebrity icons, it is important to channel the power of the little studied leaders of a more female-friendly, woman-centric world.

Dr. Weinbaum’s contributions to MoM will serve up inspiration as well as a powerful legacy of connection to community members touring the MOM Art Annex as we build together towards our vision of a Museum of Motherhood here in St. Pete.

“Batya’s work hits on so many different levels for women, whether or not they’re mothers or feminists… And even in our current political climate, I think all women can and will find a unique resonance with this booming goddess that she’s installing at MOMMuseum. For me personally, as someone who has always struggled with balancing humility and pride, Batya’s raw, bold work inspires bravery and pride in addition to capturing the colorful joys that mothers contribute to a community.” – Dannie Snyder, Artivist & Educator 

BIO: Batya Weinbaum is a visionary artist whose works have been sold at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the Oberlin Art Museum, and many galleries in NY, Boston, VA, OH, Hawaii and Michigan as well as Mexico. She has been active in the Association for the Study of Women in Mythology. Some of her work can be seen at goddess vibe.org. Dr. Weinbaum teaches online at Boston College in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and American Public University. She earned her doctorate at UMass Amherst, her Master’s at SUNY Buffalo, and her Bachelor’s at Hampshire College. She has published numerous creative and critical works, including award-winning essays, fiction and poetry. She was a cofounder of the Feminist Mother’s and Their Allies Caucus and Task Force in National Women’s Studies Association, where she petitioned for child care, and has published extensively about the impact of motherhood on grassroots political organizing in Palestine/Israel, in numerous journals and anthologies. 

Great Cosmic Mother

As Batya writes, “A museum dedicated to the study of motherhood deserves a message from the past via an image of a goddess, a fat fecundity image seated on a throne flanked by lions from Catal Huyuk now in Turkey, conjuring up shrines where goddesses were revered for giving birth.”

Ms. Weinbaum splits her time between Floyd VA and Cleveland Hts, OH, is happy to grant interviews about the project. Her art, publications, workshops and adventures can be followed on IG #divinefemimineartworkshops

More on Goddesses Brooklyn Museum [here].

Yours in Affirmations for World Peace, Feminist Equalities, and Friendship,

Martha Joy Rose, Director

Categories
Art Education Featured Featured Artists Fl MAMA MOM Art Annex motherhood Residency

M.A.M.A. Issue 53 – Jessica Caldas

The Museum of Motherhood, ProCrete Project, the Mom Egg Review present M.A.M.A. Our collaboration celebrates the intersection of art and words. Wherever we live, work, and play, the art of motherhood is made manifest. #JoinMAMA  @ProcreateProj  @MuseumOfMotherhood @MERliterary

ART

BIO: Jessica Caldas is a Puerto Rican American, Florida and Georgia based, artist, advocate, and activist. She completed a residency at MoM onsite in 2022. Her work connects personal and community narratives to larger themes and social issues. Caldas has participated in numerous emerging artist residencies, including the Atlanta Printmakers Studio in 2011, MINT Gallery’s Leap Year Program from 2012-2013, The Creatives Project form 2018-2019, Vermont Studio Center in 2020, and was the Art on the Atlanta Beltline AIR in 2020-2021. Caldas was awarded The Center for Civic Innovations 2016 Creative Impact award, named Creative Loafing’s Best of ATL Artist for 2016 and 2015, received the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs Emerging Artist Award in Visual Arts for 2014, and was a finalist for the Forward Arts Foundation’s Emerging Artist Award in 2014. Her work has been featured at Burnaway, ArtsAtl, Creative Loafing Atlanta, Atlanta Magazine, Simply Buckhead, and more. Her work has been shown at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA and is included in the collections of Kilpatrick Townsend, The City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Kyoto International Community House.

In her advocacy work, Caldas has spent time lobbying for policy at the local level in Georgia and spent time with the YWCA Georgia Women’s Policy Institute at the 2016 general assembly to assure the passage of the Rape Kit Bill and in 2016 to stop HB 51 in 2017, a bill that would have harmed the safety of sexual assault survivors on college campuses.

Caldas received her Masters of Fine Arts degree at Georgia State University in 2019 and received her BFA in printmaking from the University of Georgia in 2012. She currently runs Good News Arts, a small community arts space and gallery in rural North Central Florida.

Jessica Caldas

Statement

My work is driven by personal experience and its connection to contemporary and historical issues. Overall, my work addresses the complexities and intricacies of care and identity in our current culture. I seek to make challenging experiences accessible to those without the same somatic knowledge while still engaging in conversation and confrontation. In my practice, I incorporate layered, labor intensive drawings, collage, sculpture, performance, et al, into fully realized mixed media works and immersive installations. Within my work, the viewer is met with bodily experiences that mirror the complexities of the stories I share, with a focus on shared knowledge, awareness, empathy, and change.

My recent work is mostly divided in two ways:
1. Focus on the daily lived experiences of women; their triumphs, their struggles, and everything in between in several bodies of work which reflects on the complicated spaces, both personal and public, that women inhabit and move through.
2. Exploration of the complexities of identity where family history, cultural and social influence, politicization, and personal desire are both at odds and overlapping. In this exploration identity becomes a fact-based excavation of personal history alongside a kind of fictional mythological world building.

My artistic process has become a slow one. Where once I worked quickly, and almost frantically, I have learned in the years since completing my graduate work  that a slower, more methodical approach serves me and my work much more completely than the ways I used to create. I spend an inordinate amount of time, months and sometimes longer, reading, writing, and researching ideas, stories, and concepts that inform the work I am creating. I probably spend more time thinking about the work I will make than actually producing it, because by the time I have gotten to the point of making, I have a lot of knowledge about where I am going and what I want from the work. This is not to say that I create without reacting to what is happening, because that is another important part of my practice. Much of my production is also organic and reactionary as well. I like the ability to respond to change, materials, problems, and other things that happen in the studio as they happen, rather than strictly adhering to a plan. I find that flexibility has produced far better work than rigidity ever does. It is more real and more realistic.

As for my journey, I am one of those fortunate people who have been creating my whole life. I was privileged enough to be surrounded by art from a young age, and to be surrounded by people who took art seriously and supported my desire to practice art professionally. So going to school for art was never an issue.

(Quote from the art journal: an online journal of art and cultural commentary. Link: https://www.theartsection.com/caldas)

WORDS

Dayna Patterson is the author of Titania in Yellow (Porkbelly Press, 2019) and If
Mother Braids a Waterfall (Signature Books, 2020). Her creative work has
appeared recently in Duende, EcoTheo, and Gulf Coast. She is the founding
editor-in-chief of Psaltery & Lyre and a co-editor of Dove Song: Heavenly Mother
in Mormon Poetry. She was a co-winner of the 2019 #DignityNotDetention Poetry
Prize judged by Ilya Kaminsky. daynapatterson.com