MOM Art Annex Tour Booklet: MoM is the first and only exhibition and education center devoted to elucidating the art, science, and herstory of m/others inclusive of all reproductive identities. At our facility, located in the Artist Enclave of Historic Kenwood (2017-2022), we hosted remote residencies, mentored interns, created content, and organized events. Simultaneously, we are growing our footprint through civic engagement and have our sights set on acquiring a next level structure by 2025. Our vision is to be a world-class International Museum features mother-made art, disseminates the science of reproduction, and highlights the evolution of family while honoring the achievements of women in perpetuity, therefore preserving their legacy.MoM Art Annex Tour Booklet – Printable PDF

Music of Motherhood: History, Healing, and Activism. Mothering and music are complex and universal events, the structure and function of each show remarkable variability across social domains and different cultures. Although mother studies and studies in music are each recognized as important areas of research, the blending of the two topics is a recent innovation. The chapters in this collection bring together artists and scholars in conversations about the multiple profound relationships that exist between music and mothering. The discussions are varied and exciting. Several of the chapters revolve around the challenges of mothering partnered with a musical career; others look at the affordances that music offers to mothers and children; and some of the chapters examine the ways in which music inspires social and political change, as well as acknowledging the rise of the mom rock phenomenon. Music of Motherhood Manuscript

New Maternalisms. Forty years after feminist art first intervened in the sexual division of labour, what is the experience of the daughters of the 70s who are now mothers? How is this experience expressed in our artwork? And what is the relation between this artwork and the work done in the 70s? I am thinking here especially of Mary Kelly’s infamous six-year installation piece Post-Partum Document, which she worked on from 1973 to 1979. With work like Kelly’s in mind, I invited a group of artist-mothers to produce a performance or video piece speaking to their experi- ence as mother-artists today. These artists use performance to bring attention to the embodied, biological, and material enmeshment of early maternity in ways that stand in stark formal contrast to Kelly’s work. They do this in a way, however, that is not simply at odds with the insights of post-structuralism and the linguistic turn informing Post Partum Document. Rather, while grounded in a “return to the body,” they demonstrate a commitment to non-determinist modes of signification and analysis, opening up the affective, enmeshed, experiential flows of maternal experience in ways that invite us to ask questions about maternal invisibilities and the power and challenge of the maternal to the professional body of the artist. Read New Maternalisms.

Advertising Age Study -In 1968, Philip Morris introduced a new product line to the market: Virginia Slims, the slender “cigarette for women only.” To promote the line, Philip Morris built on the energy of second-wave feminism and cleverly co-opted much of the move- ment’s language. The result: “You’ve come a long way, baby,” a powerful and long- lasting advertising campaign that juxtaposed photographic images of the inhibited, unhappy women of yesteryear with the liberated, empowered women of the day.

More than 40 years later, American women have come an even longer way. They are highly educated in greater numbers than ever before; they are working professionals…Read Full Article.

Sensory Playgroup. With the increase of children with special needs in our community, there was clearly an obligation on the part of an institution like the Museum of Motherhood, which is especially interested in the welfare of mothers and their children alike, to provide for their needs.  This is therefore the inspiration behind Museum of Motherhood’s Special Needs Sensory Playgroup. In existence since 2011, the group has a two-pronged mission.  First, to provide children with special needs a safe place to feel free and unhindered to play and explore with other children with similar needs.  Second, to provide mothers with an outlet and safe environment in which to share stories, advice, and general thoughts and feelings about raising children with special needs. A Student Project for MoM 2012.

Write Out Loud! Online blogging and chat rooms are popular in our technologically driven culture.  They provide a unique opportunity to create community and feel connected to others who are in similar life situations.  The blackboard space here at the Museum of Motherhood is a more intimate and immediate setting for community building.  It is a dynamic space to express your opinions.

Each week a new question or quote was posted. Mothers were invited to respond however they felt moved to do so. The intention of this project was to re-invigorate a space that was in the original plan and vision for the museum – a space for mothers to connect with one another and build community. A Student Project -Write Out Loud Report 2012.

New Directions in Motherhood Studies. In the 2000s, motherhood was front and center in U.S. popular culture. High-profile celebrity pregnancies ushered in a whole new pregnancy aesthetic, with form-fitting fashions and tasteful nude photos. The spot- light shone equally on high-tech fertility treatments and low-tech mid- wives, birthing centers, and water births. Celebrity women in their late thirties and forties went public with their rounds of in vitro fertilization and surrogacy, while television talk show personality Ricki Lake produced a documentary film titled The Business of Being Born (2008) to advocate for natural and less medicalized childbirth. Read Journal Article.

Breastfeeding in America is on the rise, according to the Center for Disease Control (cdc). Nonetheless, the increase has occurred at higher rates among white populations than black, and although social media and fine arts initiatives have attempted to confront issues of visibility around breastfeeding, problems remain. Mainstream ideology continues to be fixed on images of white women as the primary signifiers for breastfeeding nurturance. This chapter focuses on an exploration of the racial and class dimensions of nursing and on how the popular cultural imagination of breastfeeding reifies itself in conventional discourse. Media images shape nursing as white and middle class, eclipsing the experiences and realities of black women, specifically economically disadvantaged black women. The original inspiration for my investigation came from Natalie Loveless’s art exhibition on feminist perspectives of New Maternalisms. New Maternalisms Edited MJR 2025

Family & Medical Leave Act was enacted in 1993 providing 12 weeks of protected, unpaid time off to full-time employees at companies with 50
people or more (read more FMLA or click image left for Power Point):
40% of workers are not covered by FMLA. Resulting in:

Financial stress to mom and family
Delaying essential medical appointments for
newborns
Mothers ceasing breastfeeding early
Mothers exiting the work force
Employee turnover
Increased costs to recruit replacements

Get informed when it comes your birth and your birth rights wherever you are.