May is Mothers’ Month– and here we are once more – celebrating the art, science, and herstory of American women and mothers with international collaborations. While MoM situates itself as a museum primarily focused on the last 250 years of North American women, m/others and families, our internships, conferences, and online exhibitions span the gamut from the UK to Canada, from Europe to Asia.
Here we go: LET THE MAY COUNTDOWN BEGIN!
ONE: May 1st was supposed to be the conclusion of our fundraising initiatives for fund our 2024-25 season, yet we persist. The Fundraiser continues to meet our 2024-25 Budget of $100K.
We thank the Rays and Rowdies for their recent sponsorship and we thank our new Founders Circle members: Liz Dimmitt, Aleks Miziolek, Betty Schaub and our assorted friends who have also contributed donations to this “We Build Tampa Bay” fundraiser.
In the meantime, our newest art exhibit, includes a collaborative work entitled ‘A Womb of Our Own – Seeing Red‘. This sculpture is currently onsite at MoM and will see its completion on Wednesday, May 8th with additional pieces contributed by Jessica Caldas. The sculpture assemblage includes the vision of MoM curator Martha Joy Rose and contributions by Leroy – the King of Art. Visit us Wednesday 6-7:30 PM to PLAY and CELEBRATE the fab new vision! But, first make your pledge to MoM by using this form or by donating directly to Join our Founders Circle.
We are also collaborating with The Saint Petersburg Month of Photography (SPMOP) for 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]
SPMOP Exhibit
Jessica Caldas Sculpture Rendering
TWO: MaMaPaLooZa is May 4th 10-4PM at The Factory in St. Pete in partnership with Fairgrounds St. Pete. Come to 2606 Fairfield Ave. S. Enjoy the day! FREE for the family with lots of activities, music, and discounted tix to the Fairgrounds. Full description on our page here.
THREE: 3 months is all we have at our current location at The Factory. Yes, that’s correct.May, June, July and then we begin looking for our next location. What does that mean? MoM’s going to need to make plans for where we pop up next. Have ideas? Want to help us make something happen? Get in touch. We need your input now. Join Us.
Summer Hours at MoM
Beginning immediately, our hours at The Factory May –July will be 12-6 Thursday-Sunday. If you are visiting locally or from out of town, make sure to book your tour in advance. We have a small volunteer team and sometimes may not be onsite if you have not pre-booked, however we do our best and you can always reach out! Call ahead 877-711-MOMS (6667) or write: INFO@MOMmuseum.org
Other Activities and Friends
The Mysteries About Manifestation Revealed from our friend Brett Cotter
New Program – Align Your Actions with Your Destiny
There is something almost all other manifestation programs miss; how do you break free from the subconscious beliefs that manifests all the stress and lack in our lives? Mantras and affirmations will not stick if your deeper core beliefs are not in alignment.
In this 4-Week Program you will be guided through 4 essential steps to manifest the life you want.
You will be guided to:
1. Identify your deepest desire and purpose
2. Release the old fear and programming you have around living your destiny now
3. Embody the new beliefs that automatically manifest the life you want
4. Align your time with your soul’s priorities
Facilitator: Brett Cotter, Author, Retreat Leader, and Trauma Recovery Expert with 20-years experience consciously working with the laws of manifestation. He teaches with his wife at the Omega Institute, Kripalu, Himalayan Institute, Tibet House, and Sivananda Ashram on Paradise Island.
Price: Early bird special $99 ends May 3rd, after that $199
Sunday, May 197:00 PM – 8:30 PM Online Motherhood: The Forever Job(FREE)– An evening of new writing by author and artist Suzi Banks Baum, followed by a discussion about the importance of writing motherhood with Joy Rose, award-winning artist, activist, and founder of the Museum of Motherhood. Participate in an Open Mic event for IWWG members and guests. Register Online.
Books
Matricentric feminism seeks to make motherhood the business of feminism by positioning mothers’ needs and concerns as the starting point for a theory and politic on and for the empowerment of women as mothers. Based on the conviction that mothering is a verb, it understands that becoming and being a mother is not limited to biological mothers or cisgender women but rather to anyone who does the work of mothering as a central part of their life. The Mother Wave, the first-ever book on the topic, compellingly explores how mothers need a matricentric mode of feminism organized from and for their particular identity and work as mothers, and because mothers remain disempowered despite sixty years of feminism. MoM Founder & Director, Martha Joy Rose has a chapter in this book. Order yours now.
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).
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)
It’s sunny in Florida and a balmy 76 degrees and many of us are celebrating together in traditional ways. The Christmas tree is ready to be illuminated downtown, fake snow is in the air, and lights abound. Whether you are prepping the family menorah, or simply looking towards Festivus, may we be glad and of good will. May we lift up those suffering through hunger and war and let us show kindness to our neighbor and gentleness in our homes.
Let us create! Let us show our souls! Let us paint our dreams and mold images out of clay. Let us stitch together a herstory that weaves its way from the city of the arts, in the neighborhood of Kenwood, ‘where art lives’, all the way to you, wherever you may be.
This weekend, MoM team member Elena Rodz has a solo art show at Redbud Gallery 303 E. 11th St. Houston, TX 77008, Texas. The title of her show is, Dilly Dally. Dates: Dec 3 – Jan 1/ Reception: Dec 3, 6-9PM
Artist Statement: The show’s title “Dilly Dally” refers to the practice of enjoying life at a walking pace. Like many of my generation, I’m overwhelmed by the enormity of the Now — the biannual once-in-a-millennia events, the metropolitan cultural hubs we all rushed to after undergrad, the gauntlet from grade school to (maybe) retirement. A move to a small city in Texas in 2013 prompted a reconsideration at the pace I experienced life. I learned to look each moment in the face rather than over its shoulder.
This series of paintings challenges the viewer to suspend thought. The imagery and composition are superficial, and the response should be primal. I want the viewer to feel instinctually rather than put thought into deciphering the hidden meaning of the artwork. The purpose of the artwork is to pause and appreciate the slow moments and the overlooked beauty of the average. Although the scenes are all real places in Corpus Christi, TX, they recall anywhere once called home.
We applaud Elena and love her dearly for her creativity, spunk, and expertise. She greatly contributes to the MoM team and we are all better for knowing her. See more of Elena’s art which is available for purchase here.
We are excited for our Annual Conference this March 23-24 in St. Pete and on Zoom. THE DEADLINE to SUBMIT IS EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 10th. You only need to submit a 250 word abstract about an academic paper, art project, or other medium on the topic of Reproductive Landscapes: This conference call is for papers, performances, conversations, and art, focused on new gender identities and discourse. Here is the full CFP and submit via the JourMS website. Won’t you please join the conversation about this very important topic!
It’s #GivingTuesday! This year MAKE IT MoM and help us GROW!
We have DREAMS of a PLACE to call OUR own. A museum that ELEVATES, illuminates, DISSEMINATES, and complicates this wildly IMPORTANT identity, JOB, journey, and POSITION of care, CONCERN, birth, and LIFE- the WOMYN at the CENTER of creativity, PROCREATION, productivity, SORROW, hope, HELP, and JOY – any DONATION amount MAKES a difference. We ARE the ART, science, and HERstory of M/others.
Any amount benefits our forward movement; $5, $10, $15, $25, $50, $100, $1,000. We have so much we are $5, $15, $10, $25, $100, $1,000 towards MEMBERSHIP, acquisitions, BUILDING CAMPAIGN.
We look forward to your energy, your care, your good vibes, and your financial support. THANK YOU!
As November winds to a close and December rushes in, let us take time to reflect not only on the things we are grateful for, but the ways in which we can all heed the call to ‘do better’ in our lives, our relationships, and in the ways we work and move in the world.
BH: To my surprise, when I became a mother, my work became so much more collaborative. Before I had children, I worked alone in the studio on personal projects. I used the space whenever I wanted, including late at night.The idea of sharing did not work with my entire approach to art-making. The changes began during my first pregnancy, when I had to change mediums because I developed an allergy to turpentine. After my first child was born, I worked at home painting small works in watercolor on a desk. Later, I started working with other moms.
All my support came from other mothers. I was lucky enough to be part of the group “A Studio of Her Own” which included a lot of other young moms with kids. A few of us got together to rent collaborative studio space that was child-friendly, and people used it at different times. We did a series of site-specific projects together, working on big murals and projects in historic buildings and public spaces. I love working big and not having to clean up a studio space. My friend Julia Aronson and I did a series of collaborative murals. We discussed the idea, then alternated painting days with each other, in a kind of visual game of Exquisite Corpse.We had to let go of control and let someone else in. We kept a blog about our last project [Link below].
At home my kids get into my art materials, so I got them their own sketchbooks and supplies. They still always want mine though.
RG: Were the changes in motherhood a surprise?
BH: I knew something was going to change but didn’t know how. I foresaw needing to work smaller. The opening of working collaboratively with other mothers was a good surprise.
RG: How do you fit in studio time with kids?
BH: My three children are now in kindergarten, pre-school, and daycare, respectively. Until each baby was a year old, I hired a babysitter once a week so I could have painting time, and I attended a late-night sculpture group. During the pandemic, for a year I didn’t have childcare so couldn’t do any art, except what I called my ‘stolen sketch time’. Before then, I found ways to paint or draw daily.
RG: Was there a big shift going from one child to 2?
BH: Yes. Two is more complicated because there’s a toddler to run after. I am always outnumbered. But for me the biggest shift was going from 0 to one child. The actual transition into motherhood has been transformative.
RG: What books, groups, web resources do you recommend?
BH: I find that working with other mothers is the most helpful way to navigate creativity amidst the chaos of motherhood. I am part of a wonderful poetry group called Mama Poets Write who used to meet once every two weeks for a night of writing. For art practice, I have artist friends who I would meet regularly. I worked with Julia Aronson on the mural projects and I participate in a regular sculpture group of women of different ages. I found my tribe and painting friends after having kids.
RG: Is there anything you would change or do differently?
BH: I was teaching before the pandemic in 3 different places. During the pandemic, it was a real struggle to teach on zoom with kids at home. I didn’t go back to teaching until after lockdown was over because it was too difficult to get childcare. I used to teach art at Brandeis University in the summer and I really miss it. I found there isn’t that much flexibility in teaching so between lockdowns and quarantines, I transitioned to giving workshops and doing freelance editing. The work does take away from my art practice – it’s a constant juggle to make time and space.
RG: What’s your biggest struggle?
BH: A big struggle- quoting Virginia Woolf and her ‘Room of One’s Own’ – is a prescient issue. The lack of space for a mother-artist is huge. I need a space for myself to maintain my art practice. Yet, now even my bedroom is not my own. When you are pregnant, even your own body is not your own. I was never alone during the pandemic and I would like to find another collaborative space. Our original space was located in Beit Alliance, a subsidized cultural center. We had an amazing synergy and did some exceptional projects. But, as mothers of young children, we were not typical artists. We look or behave like people assume artists do. We didn’t attend late night events. We set up alternate events which were well attended, but our landlords did not renew our lease. I do think there is some discrimination against mother-artists and caretakers. I’m currently working in Ha Mifal where my sculpture group has a residency and exhibition. I am sure new things will arise as the future unfolds.
We are excited to announce our newest Guest Artist in Residence, Gloria Muñoz! During her residency, Gloria hopes to focus on developing her novel which is set in 1940s Colombia during the period known as La Violencia. With elements of fabulism, historical fiction, and eco-poetics, the story of two sisters who are displaced by violence and left to fend for themselves is a testament to how we can experience wonder, and even magic, after loss.
Continue reading to find out more about Gloria.
Gloria Muñoz is a Colombian-American writer, literary translator, and advocate for multilingual literacy and writing. She was awarded the Academy of American Poets 2019 Ambroggio Prize and the Gold Medal Florida Book Award. She has also been honored by the Highlights Foundation’s 2022 Diverse Verse Fellowship, the Macondo Workshop, Lumina’s Multilingual Nonfiction Writing Award, a Las Musas Mentorship for Latine and nonbinary authors, a New York State Summer Writers Institute Fellowship, a St. Petersburg Arts Alliance Muse Award, a Creative Pinellas Grant, the Estelle J. Zbar Poetry Prize, the Bettye Newman Poetry Award, a Gen Yes Doris Duke Foundation Artist Award, a Think Small to Think Big Artist Grant, and a St. Petersburg Arts Alliance’s Jim Rolston Professional Development Grant. Gloria was part of the inaugural Tin House YA workshop and has presented her writing, research, and advocacy work at conferences, colleges, public schools, and book festivals across the United States and Latin America. Her writing has appeared in Puerto del Sol, VIDA Review, Acentos Review, Lumina, the Rumpus, Yes Poetry, Juke Joint, Best New Poets, Sweet, Burrow Press, Cosmonauts Avenue, Entropy, Wildness, Cagibi, and elsewhere. Muñoz is also the author of the chapbook Your Biome Has Found You. She holds degrees from Sarah Lawrence College and the University of South Florida. A proponent of cross-disciplinary collaboration, Gloria has worked alongside botanists, musicians, dancers, historians, classicists, visual artists, conservationists, and neuroscientists. She is a co-founder of Pitch Her Productions and she is one-half of the songwriting team Moonlit Musíca. Most days she writes, teaches, and works with environmental nonprofits.
Also, Announcing This Week:
MoM is also pleased to announce, a conversation about the film, Adventures in Miscarriage with director Cheryl Furjanic, who presented her film trailer at the MoM Conference in 2022 – in person in St. Petersburg in March!
It will be up until July 31st. Then, on Wednesday, July 27th at 6:30pm ET, she will be hosting a conversation about the film and the current state of miscarriage care. Here’s the link for that: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1xNcM1coSLmlMZAJCKXDlA
We are excited to support and view this important film which offers a perspective into this generally underreported experience!
If you are interested in applying for a guest residency here at MoM, please go to our website HERE: https://bit.ly/3uRgugm to find out more. BE SURE TO HURRY! Spots have been filling FAST! We hope that future tours of the space will be available soon, but they are by appointment only in Artist Enclave Historic Kenwood: “where art lives.”
Hello MOM Family! We ask you to join us in welcoming our new incoming JourMS Editor for 2022-2023, Nicole Musselman! Nicole has already initiated many efforts to support MOM’s latest CFP.
Nicole is part of the English Department at the University of South Florida as a Ph.D. Student and English Instructor. She is also the mother of a wonderful boy. We are so excited to see what Nicole will bring to this position this coming year!
Q. What led you on your path toward becoming an educator, and scholar and being interested in mother studies?
I was told from a very young age I may never have children. When I started my master’s degree in 2018, I began researching alternative forms of motherhood in nineteenth-century American literature. I became pregnant with my son in 2019. I continued studying motherhood from varying viewpoints in literature and the media.
Q. How did you find out about the Museum of Motherhood?
I was first told about the Museum of Motherhood by my mother-in-law. She watched the news, saw a short featurette on the museum, and sent it to me. This was early on during Covid, and I had a newborn at home, so I went online and visited the website.
Q. What made you want to work with MOM?
I believe that carving out a special place for mothers to come together and share their experiences is very important. The academic would, in particular, is long overdue for a journal focused entirely on mother studies, and the important roles mothers play in various fields outside of the domestic sphere.
Q. What are your plans for your time here at the museum? Or what are you most excited to do in your new role here as the JourMS Editor at MOM?
I am beyond grateful to be working with so many talented people interested in building a community for mothers and drawing attention to mother studies. I hope to bring new and exciting work to JourMS to provide a sense of awareness, community, and love in a world still reeling from the pandemic, Ukraine War, and continued racial inequality.
Q. What has been your most memorable experience through your work so far? Or what are you most proud of in your line of work up until this point?
I attended a portion of the MOM conference in March and was in profound admiration of every presenter. The honesty, raw emotional responses, and crucial academic work presented were amazing. I feel honored to have been a part of that audience.
Q. What would you consider to be one of the most impactful moments of what you consider the act of “mothering” in your life? Was it something you personally experienced or acted yourself?
My family had to make many sacrifices during Covid to keep our newborn son safe. It was very hard not to have visitors meet our newborn, but I believe we had the right decision as he was born five weeks early, and we were unsure how he would respond if he got sick from Covid.
Q. What would you consider to be one of the most impactful moments in HERstory that has impacted who you are today?
I think the idea of embracing that women are more than mothers or can mother in different ways without their own biological children. Going through infertility made me realize that so many forms of mothers are out there and need to be recognized.
Q. What would you consider to be a fun fact about you that you would want to share with the MOM family?
I already stated this earlier, but after being told I may never have children, I have a two-year-old son who loves dinosaurs so much it makes my heart melt.
Q. What thoughts would you like to leave our MOM family with as you begin this new journey with them through your future work here at MOM?
Being a mom or even trying to become a mom is hard. Never be afraid to ask for help!
Passionate about topics related to m/otherhood? Reproductive identities? Art? HERstory? Mothers Making Art? Mothers in Academia? Women and Gender Studies? Lifelong students can follow the Museum of Motherhood here, join our new ONLINE COMMUNITY, and we appreciate any and all support? Be sure to follow us on social media and check out our virtual storefront for merchandise!
Hello MOM Family! We are thrilled to announce our two most recent additions to our amazing team, Teddy Friedline and Sarah Akomoh. Teddy will work closely with our JourMS editor to ensure a high-quality publication representing all the latest in motherhood studies. Sarah will work towards securing grants for our organization to continue our march into the future, securing our place for years to come.
New to MOM this Summer
Teddy L. Friedline (they/them) is a recent graduate of Washington College, where they won the 2022 Sophie Kerr Prize, the largest undergraduate writing prize in the nation. Their creative work, which often focuses on motherhood, can be found in Yes Poetry, streetcake, Burning Jade Magazine, and elsewhere. They are co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of FAIRY PIECE MAG, a literary magazine focused on breaking old rules and creating new ones.
They are especially excited to be working on MOM’s Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS), reviewing both creative and academic work. Teddy also looks forward to promoting JourMS widely through social media and exploring how to better disseminate the incredible contributions of our amazing authors and artists through the digital humanities.
Also Please Welcome
Sarah Akomoh
Sarah Akomoh is currently a first year MA student with a concentration in literature at USF. Her research interests are primarily connected to Black feminism and the dynamics of womanhood for both African and African American women. She is excited to intern at The Museum of Motherhood this summer and can’t wait to learn and give her research skills to the grant writing process.
Through the course of her internship, she commits to using her research skills to learn and then secure general operating support for the Museum of Motherhood through various grant writing initiatives. As part of moving the Museum forward, she will also research local and national grants and come up with a plan to support the finances of the MOM Museum. Membership and loyalty is a key dynamic feature of the MOM Museum. Therefore, Sarah aims to collate past contributors and reach out to our members to appreciate and initiate potential future patronage and sponsorship.
Passionate about topics related to m/otherhood? Reproductive identities? Art? HERstory? Mothers Making Art? Mothers in Academia? Women and Gender Studies? Lifelong students can follow the Museum of Motherhood here, join our new ONLINE COMMUNITY, and we appreciate any and all support? Be sure to follow us on social media and check out our virtual storefront for merchandise!
Procreate Project, the Museum of Motherhood and the Mom Egg Review are pleased to announce the M.A.M.A . 44th edition of this scholarly discourse. Literature intersects with art to explore the wonder and the challenges of motherhood. What better way to celebrate #InternationalWomensWeek than with Art and Words from around the world!
International Women’s Week starts on the 8th of March and while a day celebrating women has existed in some form for over 100 years it wasn’t until 1911 that a formal International Women’s Day took place in which Austria, Denmark Germany, and Switzerland took part. Since 1975 the UN has recognized International Women’s Day and Week. In 2011 Barack Obama introduced a Women’s History Month in March to coincide with the existing day and extend the celebration of women even further. Each year International Women’s Day has a theme; this year that theme is ‘Choose to Challenge”. Here at M.O.M challenge is a key concept; from challenging concepts of femininity and motherhood and even to the idea of what a museum can be. #JoinMAMA #artandmotherhood
ABOUTM.A.M.A. 44 FEATURE: Alexis Soul-Gray’s practice is concerned with loss, memory, and grief. Speculative questioning about the memorial, memory, and commemoration brings together a conjecture of imagery taken from personal and public archival materials. Through painting, collage, and print the artist defaces and rearranges found images and objects. Soul-Gray explores themes of loss and grief with a particular focus on the trauma caused by the loss of the mother figure, questioning notions of domestic success and the cuteness inherent in memory, she uses destruction and abrasion to physically manipulate and alter found images in order to find new realities, a calm after a storm…a final resting place that cannot be reached.
I work on canvas, linen, wood and paper. I have recently been drawn to salvaged found paper ephemera such as vintage embroidery transfers, bible pages, knitting patterns, objects of beauty and magazines/books that give advice/ instruction for domestic success. I often work in layers, deliberately interrupting images through overlap/obstruction as an attempt to create a visceral representation of the thought process. Abstraction and figuration hold equal significance. Images are continuously intersecting, abrasive, harmonious, removed…a tangible manifestation of a multi-layered interior state.
I am interested in the stillness found in studio shot images of children and women, floristry, knitting and antiques. Almost like puppets and dolls in play, I take them on a journey of change and exploration. These images were not designed to be used in paintings, their intended use was cheap printed instructional material and quickly forgotten books. Many of the images I work with date from the 1930’s-1980’s, they represent personal ancestry, collective histories, traditions and loss.
BIO: Alexis Soul-Gray is a visual artist based in Devon, UK. Her practice sits predominantly within painting, drawing, and printmaking but also includes assemblage, photography, and film. Alexis studied at Central Saint Martins and Camberwell College of Art has completed the postgraduate year at The Royal Drawing School and later this year will start her MA in Painting at The Royal College of Art after 10 years of primarily caring for her two daughters. Alexis has worked in Arts education for 17 years and currently holds a lecturing role in Devon. She has also worked as a curator, producing 3 large scale art events in unusual settings including an old village post office in rural Oxfordshire, the vaults of an Elizabethan mansion in Epping Forest, and an inner-city folly standing adrift, lost in Birmingham City Centre, built-in memory of the landowner’s deceased wife.
Poetry by Iris Jamahl Dunkle
Mother Song
Had I sky enough, had I sea, I’d pour that blue back into you, my second hearts. Each dawn brings a symphony of swallows mud-nested in the eaves. A reckoning: what dulls can shine out, have you wings and lungs.
In this house of loss and shadow, we mass the store of what we’ve learned: Even winter- bare buckeyes will green and bloom out. Hawks will nest in ribbons of air. The monarch butterflies will shock our eyes with orange wing.
More about Iris:
Iris Jamahl Dunkle is the author of three poetry collections, including Interrupted Geographies (Trio House Press, 2017). Her biography about Charmian Kittredge London, Jack London’s wife was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2020. She was the Poet Laureate of Sonoma County from 2016-2018. She teaches at Napa Valley College and is the Poetry Director of the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference.
JOURMS: The Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) 2018 is currently published online. Special thanks to Candace Lecco for her work as editor and to all our authors and editorial volunteers. Find out more here: LINK
RESIDENCIES AT MOM ART ANNEX 2019: M. Joy Rose has returned to Manhattan College or the spring 2019 semester. We anticipate accepting new residencies at the MOM Art Annex in St. Pete, Florida beginning August 2019-December 2019.
Meanwhile, students of all ages, who are interested in accessing course materials for Sociology of Family curriculum can watch for posts on our teaching website.
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