MoM Conference 2024 Press Release

Courtney Kessel, is a mother, artist, academic, and arts administrator living and working in Athens, Ohio. She is currently the Assistant Director for Experiential Design at Ohio University and a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts. Courtney is one of the pioneers of the mother-made art movement. Her installation: Fabric of Life is an interactive community large-scale weaving of household objects that challenges viewers to contemplate the accumulation of possessions in the context of parenting. This floor-to-ceiling sculpture is comprised of things saved by the artist, and items donated or loaned from local communities. It references our shared memories and borderlines on excess, prompting reflections on our role in capitalism. By shining a light on the collective experiences of parenting, Fabric of Life advocates for increased support for reproductive and domestic labor. The sculpture invites families to consider the significance of objects, questioning the values placed on material possessions versus carework, and encourages introspection on memories, attachments, and the sometimes excessive nature of our lifestyles. On display March 22-31, 2024.

Madison Hendry, doula, scholar and artist from Cleveland, Ohio leads a Saturday lunchtime crochet circle focused on our ‘Threads of Connection’ during the annual MoM Conference. The public is invited to participate! Her work, ‘The Womb Project’ is currently on display at the museum. This work is a 9 month long documentation that explores the physical changes artist, Madison Hendry experienced throughout her first pregnancy. By crocheting around herself during this period, she creates a “womb-like” soft sculpture, which protects and comforts her, just as her womb protects and comforts her growing baby. At last, when the sculpture is complete, it is then deconstructed by the artist to reveal the greatest work of art; her baby.

Andrea O’Reilly is internationally recognized as the founder of Motherhood Studies (2006) and its subfield Maternal Theory (2007), and creator of  the concept of Matricentric Feminism, a feminism for and about mothers (2016) and Matricritics, a literary theory and practice for a reading of mother-focused texts (2021). She is full professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at York University, founder/editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative and publisher of Demeter Press. She is coeditor/editor of thirty-five plus books on many motherhood topics including Feminist Mothering, Young Mothers, Monstrous Mothers, Maternal Regret, Normative Motherhood, Mothers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters, Maternal Texts, Academic Motherhood, Mothers on Finding and Realizing Feminism and Mothering and Covid-19. Her collection Maternal Theory: Essential Reading (2021) is regarded as the foundational text in Motherhood Studies.

The Bag Ladies with Judy Lyons Schneider & Alice Harrison. Using shopping bags as a symbol of the role of women as primary shoppers in the 1950s the Tee Shirt collection (suspended from a laundry line exhibit) includes images from the boxed collection of ephemera, memorabilia, and books.

Vanessa Hansen is a mother, teacher, textile artist and board member in the Swedish artist collective Konstnarernas Mamma Kollektiv (The Artist Mothers Collective) based in Gothenburg, Sweden. She creates art focusing on women’s narratives, especially mothers. Currently, she is working on a participatory research based art project, where she gathers the voices from mothers around the world. By collecting handwritten letters where mothers write down their experiences of motherhood and embroidering them on naturally dyed vintage household textiles, she explores how we are all bound together by the experience of motherhood.

Ayakoh Furukawa-Leonart is a multidisciplinary artist who selects materials depending on the message she wants to convey. ‘A Flower on the Womb’ is a collection of works about motherhood. For Ayakoh, motherhood represents nurturing life and embodies nature. She believes men also share in mothering. Even in this technologically advanced era, humans gestate life within the womb of women. Additionally, most humans pass through the birth canal, traversing the labia to come to this world. These works continue to be created with the hope of remembering that we are part of this natural process, not forgetting our humanity, and keeping alive the spirit of love, gratitude, and the passion for peace. Born and raised in Japan, Ayakoh now lives and works in New York. Her work has been exhibited internationally at cultural institutions and galleries around the world.

Vanessa Marr is an artist and academic based in East Sussex, England. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and is currently Principal Lecturer and Course Leader at the University of Brighton. She is best known for her hand embroidered dusting cloths, which form part of the international collaborative arts project Domestic Dusters, which invites embroidered statements on this theme. She is drawn to cloth as a medium that holds the legacy of so-called women’s work and its potential for subversion and quiet activism. Vanessa has published and exhibited internationally on the themes of women’s relationship with domesticity, motherhood, autoethnography, and drawing as creative research practice. She regularly leads collaborative, community and research projects, and never stops learning, making and writing. Instagram: @vanemarr @domesticdusters
Research:https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/vanessa-marr