Welcome to the MoM Internship program, Rithik Pramod. Rithik (pictured above in the banner working on one of his research projects) is an archaeology student who will be creating an online exhibit of fertility goddesses of ancient India. He is currently pursuing Master’s degree in Archaeology and Ancient History from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, where he completed his undergraduate degree as well. Rithik has a keen interest in Ancient Cultures, Ancient History, Heritage Mapping, Documentation of Neglected Sites, Public Archaeology,History of Cuisines and so on. He is associated with various esteemed Organizations like ICOMOS India, Asiatic Society For Social Science Research, Puratattvasamvardhan NGO, Europa Nostra and European Students Association for Cultural Heritage. He has written and presented papers on Intangible Heritage , Architecture, Ancient Water Heritage at both national and international level.
LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER- JOY REPORT:
It has been a busy summer! I was so pleased to meet with the New York MoM Academic Board. These gals have been part of the museum project for over a dozen years. Thank you Laura Tropp, Aurelie Athan, and Roksana Badruddoja. I <3 you so much! (pictured left with Martha Joy Rose, Founder).
MoM has launched MEMBERSHIPS: Finally! We are so pleased to announce this new addition to our museum initiative. Now we can better build together. Please consider signing up for a membership and help us grow, grow, grow. Pick the annual membership that’s right for you by clicking here.
This summer we welcomed Artist in Residence, Jessica Caldas, and our current Artist in Residence is Tara Blackwell. Also joining us in August are remote Residency artist Rachael Grad who will be creating an online art exhibit. More to come.
Our summer interns have been working hard. They are: Emma Andrews, Sarah Akomoh, Teddy Friedline, and Mary Noah. A hearty welcome to each! They are working on a variety of initiatives including grant writing, teaching tools, journal publication, and social media. Welcome too, Rithik Pramod, mentioned above.
Since I last wrote, we have completed our Florida Vendor License, our W9 application, our Candid (Guidestar profile), our DUNS and our SAM applications.
So, what’s the action item here? Big goals here are keeping you updated, inviting you to become a member at MoM, letting you witness the progress for yourselves, and bringing team members together in the spirit of MoM. Also, we have launched our Ally program. Please sign our letter here to state your support of MoM’s initiatives locally in St. Pete. We will be using these signatures to demonstrate to our community the need, importance, and significance of a museum devoted to M/others and those exploring reproductive identity. SIGN OUR LETTER.
In that spirit, we are now seeking a new Internship Director who might manage our growing body of intern applicants and projects. Please help put the word out about this volunteer position on our great team. The position requires approval of interns, assisting in assessing internships goals and objectives, and then weekly zoom meetings with each intern. It requires approximately 6 volunteer hours per week.
*IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO YOU THINK MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN US: one of our boards, our new MEMBERSHIP community, pt staff, or MOM development, PLEASE DO SEND THEM OUR WAY! They can alsofill out this formonline or write: INFO@MOMmuseum.org
We are excited to announce our newest Guest Artist, Tara Blackwell. Tara is a mixed media pop artist leveraging the tension between fun and social commentary in her artwork.
Continue reading to find out more about Tara and her journey.
I am a mixed media pop artist living and working in Connecticut. In my work, I play with bold colors, layers, and texture, often incorporating nostalgic pop culture to explore contemporary social issues. At a glance, my paintings depict a childlike innocence, but there is usually underlying social commentary. While I have fun exploring imagery from my childhood, at the same time, I am delving into insecurities that go way back to being an awkward girl in middle school – that “picked last in gym class” feeling. My “Saturday Morning” series is all about resiliency and perseverance. Remember digging in the cereal box as a kid to find that prize? These little characters are symbolically shown in positions of independence, strength, and success. The process of creating this work has personally helped me to conjure up my own inner strength and to envision my “prize” within my reach.
In the Summer of 2020, like many of us, my daughter (Lila) and I spent a lot of time together indoors due to the pandemic. Lila was 12 and in her first year of middle school at a new school and navigating the typical challenges that I remember all too well from that age. But the isolation and fear of getting sick was an unexpected turn. Then—we saw the horrific murder of George Floyd; Another brutal killing (at the hands of the police) of a human being who looks like us. Black Lives Matter protests erupted stronger and louder than ever and living downtown in a major city, we could just step outside and be part of the movement. Together, Lila and I began to pour our feelings into our art.
I was still working on my Saturday Morning series when Lila suggested the use of Powerpuff Girls, a cartoon linked to her generation, not mine. I had been focusing on my own childhood memories in this work, but when I started exploring Lila’s suggested reference, my focus shifted to her experience at that moment. As a mother, I not only thought about how I could protect her but how could I help her to discover her own voice and inner strength. My Saturday Morning series shifted direction and I tapped into my fierceness as a mother– as a Black mother of a Black girl. The Powerpuff Girl painting became the piece titled “Justice Now.” I consider that piece to be the beginning of a powerful collaboration between me and Lila.
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.”
I want to write about mothers and trees. Roots and families. Art and love.
Last year our world appeared to be on fire. Headlines captured devastating events around the globe. From politics to pandemics, the news cycle, as well as our personal lives, were upended in so many ways. In the midst of one of many California blazes, a story about a redwood matriarch dubbed the Mother of the Forest in Santa Cruz, California caught my attention.
Mother of the Forest is one of the tallest trees in Santa Cruz Park. A symbolic womb at her core forms an 8 x 13 foot room, or a hobbit hole, or a sacred space — depending on your perspective.
I have become obsessed with trees.
Trees are a testimony to patience and resilience. They offer shelter, contribute to healthy ecosystems, and fight climate change. Redwoods protect and support each other as well as other sapling growth by creating family circles sprouted from the roots of a parent tree. These families may or may not be genetically related. These lessons in cooperation can be a metaphor for humanity in its current fragmented state.
One month ago, I headed back to the MOM Art Annex in Florida after a prolonged absence. Ready to explore the next steps with our community and see to the ongoing growth of the Museum project, I arrived energized. Rising in the midst of display artifacts, art, and birthing objects, a new exhibit towers in the heart of the Annex. Artist Helen Hiebert’s Mother Tree is a brilliant illuminated sculpture made of paper and thread on loan to us for the year.
In preparation for the Mother Tree’s arrival, I pursued the book Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard, a deeply inspiring tale of scientific discovery and maternal care. I pondered our new directions with the Museum of Motherhood and gladly welcomed a guest artist residency proposal by Polly Wood, which included constructing an empty nest as a ceremonial acknowledgement of her daughter going off to college.
“A nest,” I exclaimed. “How timely for the Mother Tree’s arrival.”
Polly and I spent a glorious two weeks spinning magic. A blog about her residency is online at MOM. The next guest artist arrives in mid-December with work featuring among other things, landscapes and trees in gorgeous muted watercolors.
Polly Wood working on her “Empty Nest” at MOM
As the year winds down, I gratefully acknowledge the manner in which I’ve been able to spend time with emerging mother artists here in St. Petersburg, and also family as well. My son, his wife, and their baby have been on-site for the last six weeks, crowded into the MOM Art Annex’s tiny space– along with the exhibits, myself, and visiting guests. My one-year old granddaughter crawls around the carefully childproofed perimeter while I proudly chase after her.
In these accompanying photos, I introduce my granddaughter to a world of female sheroes, the art of motherhood, and a variety of messages aimed at empowering women and girls. The images for this MAMA exhibit also include my own self-portrait surrounded by the Mother Tree’s yarn roots in a symbolic gesture of rebirth, renewal, and generational connection.
Martha Joy Rose ; rebirth with Helen Hiebert’s “Mother Tree” sculpture and Polly Wood’s “Nest”
Every major tree metaphor reminds me to trust in the slow, yet, steady growth of the museum project. Good things take time. Like a redwood, we want the museum to stand as a testament to the ages. We want to collaborate with our community and our surroundings. These things develop and deepen slowly. We are the connection. We are the women. We are the love. We are the trees.
If you would like to donate to our Mother Tree acquisitions campaign, please consider helping us purchase the Mother Tree in perpetuity by making a tax-deductible donation here.
In gratitude and perseverance, Martha Joy Rose
Frank and Sojourner Truth at MOM 2021
Raising the next generation of empowered humans means teaching them about our past: our struggles, problems, issues, and herstory. At the MOM Art Annex we do exactly that, while building towards our future by developing the footprint for the Museum of Motherhood project as an international education and exhibition destination.
I look forward hopefully, understanding deeply the importance of engaging with people of all ages in an inclusive, supportive, and smart environment. Together we can elevate the voices and artistic endeavors of all humans, and in our case, especially m/others, procreators, dreamers, childless by choice, women in history and present day sheroes– as well as those who have suffered loss and infertility.
My granddaughter and I have started this conversation early and often – even though she is still pre-verbal. A picture is worth a thousand words in this case!
Martha Joy Rose: Martha Joy Rose is a community organizer and Museum of Motherhood founder. Her work has been published across blogs and academic journals and she has performed with her band Housewives On Prozac around the world. She is the NOW-NYC recipient of the Susan B. Anthony Award, her Mamapalooza Festival Series has been recognized as “Best in Girl-Power Events”, and her music has appeared on the Billboard Top 100 Dance Charts. She founded the Museum of Motherhood in 2003, created the Motherhood Foundation 501c3 non-profit in 2005, saw it flourish in NYC from 2011-2014, and then pop up at several academic institutions. After teaching Mother Studies at the college level, she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Her current live/work space is devoted to the exploration of mother-labor & performance art while she oversees the continued growth of the Museum of Motherhood project.
Helen Hiebert: Helen Hiebert constructs installations, films, artists’ books and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. Her sculpture Mother Tree serves as a symbol of the vulnerability, strength and sense of community she feels as a mother. The seven-foot tall handmade paper dress/tree features single strands of thread which extend from the bodice of the dress, representing mother’s milk, and cascade to the floor, transforming via crochet into roots which pile up, filling the surrounding space as a tree’s roots would fill the ground beneath it. The transformation from dress to tree and root to soil symbolizes the mother as a provider and nurturer throughout human development. Since her inception, hundreds of people have contributed to crocheting roots with messages of family, friendship, and affirmation.
Procreate Project, the Museum of Motherhood and the Mom Egg Review are pleased to announce the 50th edition of this scholarly discourse. Literature intersects with art to explore the wonder and the challenges of motherhood. Using words and art to connect new pathways between the academic, the para-academic, the digital and the real, as well as the everyday: wherever you live, work and play, the Art of Motherhood is made manifest. #JoinMAMA #artandmotherhood
Procreate Project, the Museum of Motherhood and the Mom Egg Review are pleased to announce the 49th edition of this scholarly discourse. Literature intersects with art to explore the wonder and the challenges of motherhood. Using words and art to connect new pathways between the academic, the para-academic, the digital and the real, as well as the everyday: wherever you live, work and play, the Art of Motherhood is made manifest. #JoinMAMA #artandmotherhood
June 2021: Art by Thatiana Cardoso words by Lisa DeSiro
Art by Thatiana Cardoso
The images show the artist´s intentionality of constructing images that confuse the visual perception of the viewer. In the images, household items suggest parts of the human body. For the artist, object and human are in symbolic equivalence. Her photographic work aims to problematise the object as a living entity and investigate the way in which the viewer’s organism responds to these images.
Since 2013, I have explored the tension between strangeness and familiarity of everyday objects through photography, video, performance, and drawing. I investigate the approximations between the body and domestic utensils, showing the similarity with the human body. In her artwork, objects breath, pulsate, and are tortured. The process of torturing household items speaks of veiled, symbolic violence in relation to women. My early research focused on some of the unusual aspects of the living objects, and on the intentionality of constructing images that confuse the visual perception of the viewer. I investigate deception as a poetic resource to create images that ask the viewer to be part of this aesthetic experience.
Words by Lisa DeSiro
Hooded
At the top step above the family room my mother appears, floating in mid-air, as if seated on an invisible chair. What she’s telling me is important. But her head is covered by a dark cloth, her face hidden. Please take that off, it’s distracting. No. She doesn’t have permission.
More about Lisa:
Lisa DeSiro is the author of Simple as a Sonnet (Kelsay Books, 2021), Labor (Nixes Mate Books, 2018), and Grief Dreams (White Knuckle Press, 2017). Her poetry has been widely published in anthologies and journals, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and set to music by several composers. Lisa is also an accomplished pianist and founder/host of the Solidarity Salon performance series. Read more about her at thepoetpianist.com.
Kate Walters’s works explore themes around the disembodied uterus, the narcissistic mother, and the connections we have with animals and wilderness.
Kate Walters’ works in watercolor, monotype, and oil are concerned with the interaction of the animal, plant, dream and human worlds; depicting in raw and graphic immediacy a relationship that is both intimate and nurturing.
Walters studied fine art at Brighton University. She spent some time working at her successful teaching career before completing a postgraduate fine art diploma at University College Falmouth. Around 2000 Kate was elected to be a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists. She is currently serving on the NSA Committee. LINK: http://www.katewalters.co.uk
when we were young, younger,
summer finds us in the play-
ground, niall & s.j., jeanne &
eric, sam & me, after a long
day of day care or whatever,
i’m not even sure we stopped
at home, i think, we bring the kids
w/change of clothes direct
to the playground: there is
a sprinkler-fountain, old-school,
up a few steps, a huge sand-
box, center, a huge concrete
ship for scaling, the kids
love, but someone once cracked
open his head–now of course
replaced by a generic safe climbing
structure–as its named–
anyway, the boys, they were all
boys, would play–for hours–
we would pick up sandwiches
at the opera–the deli–named for
nick and dom opera, the owners,
it was filthy and funky and they make
the best heroes and sandwiches, and
the kids play in the fountain–the neighborhood
transvestites stop by to use the bathroom
and one sits atop the sprinkler to cool off
and strut her stuff and get clean–and after
a bit the wise parks department attendant,
rather than make a fuss, just turns off
the water–the transvestite takes her leave, the kids
play til dark or after, maybe it turns
cool
wed., 8/1/18: 8:47 pm
eve packer – Bronx-born, poet/performer/actress. Appearing widely with dance, poetry, performance, music, theatre. NEH, NYSCA, NYFA awards. Downtown Poet of the Year awards. Numerous publications. 3 poetry books (Fly by Night Press). 5 poetry/jazz CD’s. Teaches at WCC. Mom, Grandmom, lives downtown, swims daily.
TheMuseum of Motherhood, the ProCreate Project, the Mom Egg Review, and the Mother Magazine are pleased to announce the launch of a bi-monthly international exchange of ideas and art. M.A.M.A. will celebrate the notion of being “pregnant with ideas” in new ways. This scholarly discourse intersects with the artistic to explore the wonder and the challenges of motherhood. Using words and art to connect new pathways between the creative, the academic, the para-academic, the digital, and the real, as well as the everyday: wherever you live, work, and play, the Art of Motherhood is made manifest. Download the Press Release here or read about updated initiatives. #JoinMAMA @ProcreateProj @MOMmuseum @TheMomEgg
