Tag: Motherhood Studies

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Health, Wellness & Black Maternal Health Week at MoM


We finished an awesome month of Women’s Herstory activities in March, culminating with the 20th Anniversary MoM Conference (supported by USF) and the MoM Art Auction in partnership (with OXH Gallery).

Our impact over the course of five days was 200 + American and international guests that began with a tour with Girls Rock on Thursday, March 13th at MoM and ended with the MoM Art Auction on March 18th in Tampa.

Girls Rock, St Pete!

MoM Art Auction

The Auction remains LIVE through April. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PROMOTE: People can ‘buy now‘ or bid’ as the fundraising continues.

*Thanks to everyone who helped, attended, contributed, and supported. Thanks to our various, hard-working committees. We appreciate our partners and contributing artists especially.

MoM Art Auction in partnership with OXH Gallery

St Pete is continually impressed with our dynamic team. Everywhere I go now, I hear the same thing: “What an amazing team MoM has.” TRUTH!

Congrats are in order for two highly successful networking events organized by Mary Havlock with Hypatia Collective and Working Women Tampa Bay, and attendance at Nerd Nite promoting MoM’s Escape Womb Experience. Meet Mary at monthly play dates. See our Events Page.

Monthly Play dates

Kudos to Sierra for her March Women’s Herstory Events celebrating local she-roes and for bringing CONA(Council of Neighborhood Associations) to the space on March 25th from 6-8PM. Sierra is up to great things in April, kicking off April 8th with an evening of financial awareness for kids and families. Flyer is on the events page and below.

Sierra Clark hosts Health, Wellness and Education workshops at MoM as our Community Empowerment Facilitator

April also brings Black Maternal Health Awareness Week. MoM will host an event organized by USF that involves our Health, Wellness and Education committee members: doula Courtney West as well as award-winning photographer Sara Hunter on exhibit at MoM April 10th 5-8PM with a DJ and refreshments.

Sara Hunter, award-winning photographer on display at MoM

Thanks to Amanda Bartles for her lactation groups on Sundays at noon. We are hoping to replace this activity while Amanda goes on maternity leave. Yay, Amanda!

Barbara Lynch continues to network on our behalf and leveraged another encounter with 16th St Farms for a collaboration while also bringing a book club to MoM.

A University of Tampa Senior, Mary-Margaret Russo has approached us about doing a short documentary on MoM with filming taking place in April. We hope to film all April events culminating with MaMaPaLooZa on Sunday May 4th!

MaMaPaLooZa is Sunday, May 4th in partnership with FloridaRAMA.

We welcome returning sponsor BayFirst Bank.

BayFirst Financial Bank

We still need more volunteers onsite at MoM and we need a bigger board. Cast your nets. We will be focused on a board-building event leveraging the contacts we amassed for the art auction. This will be held in June. Think who you might want to invite or if you wanna join!

A renowned artist from NYC- Raisa Nosova (who contributed to the MoM Art Auction) has asked The Factory owners if she can paint a mural for MoM. The owners said YES – now we are figuring out timing! See her gorgeous design here.

Design by Raisa Nosova

The Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) is open for submissions through May 31. Submit Now!

JourMS Submissions 2025

Currently we have rent paid through August when our lease is up!! This is a HUGE accomplishment. Thank you to all our contributors!

If we could miraculously raise $15k towards next year’s rent in the next 3 months, we will renew the lease for 2026.

Also, I am so grateful for being presented with the ‘Joy Award’ for 20 years of MoM Conference organizing. Thank you Courtney, Brittany and Meagan! This will be my last time leading the conference planning. 

From left to right: Beth Charles, Brittany DeNucci, Barbara Lynch, Meagan Welch, Martha Joy Rose, Courtney Kessel

I thankfully gave my notice so that a new team can RISE and is empowered for next year’s academic and arts conference. I will stay on as an advisor only. New Team: Brittany DeNucci, Meagan Welch (also serving as editor to JourMS), Jill M. Wood, Beth Charles, Sonia Meerai, & Batya Weinbaum, Courtney Kessel with Michelle Hughes Miller, Aurelie Athan and myself in advisory roles and Hannah Brockbank advising on the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS).

 

Health Wellness and Education at the Museum of Motherhood
Financial Literacy

April 8 (Tuesday 6-7:30PM

EVENT DETAILS: April observation of financial literacy SHEENA QUALLES Founder/CEO/owner at Kidzonomics LLC “Stacks & Future Facts”.

A budgeting workshop that frames financial literacy as a game plan for future success. Helps young people see money as a tool for building the life they want rather than something just for spending.

Kidzonomics mission- cultivating children, understanding of money management to strengthen their financial wellness as adults for program coordinators. Organized by Sierra Clark, Community Empowerment Coordinator. Questions call: 877-711-MOMS (6667)

Thursday, April 10th, 2025

Raising awareness and advocacy for the improvement of maternal health outcomes for Black women, their infants, and families—not just in Tampa Bay, but throughout Florida. We have a fun and informative week of events planned, starting with our Photography Exhibit and Showcase Kick-off Event at the Museum of Motherhood in St. Petersburg, FL, with USF.

Organized by Courtney West, facilitated by Sierra Clark featuring the award-winning birth photography of Sara Hunter.

#BMHWofTampaBay2025

Skills Drill with the Rainbow Midwife and Escape Womb Visit

April 18 5-7PM Sills and Drills with The Rainbow Midwife. The Skills and Drills for birth workers and the people who love them with a tour of the Escape Womb after.

You Must Pre-Register: Call 877-711-MOMS (6667) and leave a message.

MoM’s Escape Womb Experience Tickets
Mamapalooza 2025

May 4th, 10-4PM at The Factory in St Pete

MAMAPALOOZA St. Petersburg 2025 offers a diverse lineup of activities and entertainment for attendees of all ages. Highlights of the event include:

Interactive art installations celebrating the creativity and resilience of mothers with a marketplace featuring local vendors offering handmade crafts, jewelry, and other unique items. Join us as we come together to celebrate the strength, love, and resilience of mothers everywhere. MAMAPALOOZA is a day to honor the past, embrace the present, and envision a brighter future for all families.

CONFIRMED BANDS WITH GIRLS ROCK, ST PETE: Hex Appeal & Anarkitty along with The Rum Syndicate!

Sign Up To Participate as an Artist, Vendor or Sponsor

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Featured

MoM Goes Abroad – Message From the Founder

LONDON ENGLAND – I attended the Procreate Project’s Oxytocin Conference, organized by Dyana Gravina, and team, mid-May for two days of intensely powerful commissioned art, scholarship, and workshop work at Kings College. Scholar, poet, and accelerator Hannah Brockbank and I were scheduled to lead a workshop together.

Inspired by the work of Sierra Clark, the workshop was titled “Repair Work, from Sweet Nothings to Sweet Everything,” the title of her chapter in Repairing the Black Family Anthology, edited by Sister Nayyirah Muhammad. The aim of the workshop was to disrupt narratives in order to facilitate healing, which was indeed the goal of the entire conference.

The power of stories shared and the work we did together to dialogue about contemporary issues facing mothers and the women who labor through this important work could not be denied. Laura Godfrey Issacs shared information about the Birth Cafe (see more at http://www.birth are.org), PhD candidate Anna Horn’s interactive workshop on ‘Inclusive Infant Feeding’ compelled.

The conference itself was funded by the Public Arts Council of England amount others. The Procreate Project, Museum of Motherhood, and MER: The Mom Egg Review have been working together since 2015 to feature the art and literature of m/others. I am looking forward to bringing new knowledge(s) back to Florida when I return. But first, the second portion of my trip takes me on a three hour flight to the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

Scenes from Oxytocin, London England

XEMXIJA, MALTA with its windswept bay, Mellieha with views that stretch past the isle of Goza, Mostar, with its magnificent dome, Mdina the silent city, and Rabat. Hot, dusty, and international. Roses, cactus, olive trees and lemons. In Malta, we go to see the Goddess temples Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. These two temples comprise one of the three UNESCO Heritage sites on Malta, but together there are seven megalithic temples. So, of the three sites heritage sites, one represents all of the temples combined, plus the city of Valletta, and the Hypogeum. Additionally, located at the island of Gozo are the temples rumored to built by the giants.

These Megalithic temples comprise some of the oldest free-standing structures on earth. Older than the pyramids, they are thought to be Goddess Temples for both fertility and transformation as part of a prehistoric culture that appears to be centered around women and the three spheres, heaven, earth, and the underworld as embodied through the pot, house, temple and tomb. We catch the bus and hold tight swerving up narrow inclines twisting and turning above the sea.

When we get to the temple, I am quivering with excitement. We buy tickets, walk through the small but impactful museum, and head outdoors along a windswept path towards the structure which overlooks the Mediterranean. The breeze is slight. Hagar Qim is crowned with a giant white canvas to lessen the impact of the elements. As one approaches her entrance, the tent fades away and all focus turns to the massive rocks shaping what appears to be her portal beyond the giant curved walls. According to Cultural Anthropologist Veronica Veen, we enter the Goddess’ body through her vagina (Pg. 8 The Goddess of Malta).

Goddesses of Malta

There is so much to write about here. Both portions of my trip have offered so much in terms of knowledge, blessings, friendship, and collaboration. I’ll bring all this newfound knowledge of Goddesses and the art of many m/others back to the Museum of Motherhood with me. It will certainly inform my work moving forward and I look forward to the future conversations, creativity, and future collaborations this will inspire.

Yours in Love, Light, and M/otherhood. I hope my American friends have a great Memorial Day Weekend – Martha Joy Rose

More about my personal perspectives can be found at my blog: MarthaJoyRose.com

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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
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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
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Art Blog Caregiving Education Featured Feminism gender home MOM Art Annex motherhood Opportunities Residency Spiritual Motherhood st petersburg Uncategorized

Mom Residency Highlights Artist and Educator Donna Lewis

Artist and Educator Donna Lewis

As this year comes to a close and everyone celebrates this holiday season we wanted to share with you all the last MOM Art Annex Resident of 2021 . Donna Lewis is an accomplished artist and educator who values the sacredness of mother earth, and has found it to be a source of constant comfort throughout her life. It is from her experiences with nature, and her own experiences as a mother and caregiver, that she expresses her creative spirit through art.

Throughout her residency with us this December, we hope you will be able to see the beauty of the world through her art, and come to appreciate the lasting connections we make with the world around us that shape who we all come into being with each new phase of life. Continue reading to personally hear from Donna to learn more about her art, her career, and life.

I turned 65 this year. With that change, I retired from my job of twenty-five years as an educator. After teaching art and architecture to high school students, I am now learning to let go of the frenetic pace, the relentless work-cycle, and focus on my own desires and passions.

I am learning to release my creative, art-making self in order to heal and bring forth a new chapter in my life. But, it is not always easy.

Being committed to the process of creativity means living in synchronicity. There is a constant need to balance movement with downtime, exercise with rest, and the mundane with the magnificent. I realize the importance of allowing myself the freedom to let my mind and heart wander, as I slowly learn to enjoy, and feel deserving, of what is to come. 

I search for clarity about some major life-decisions, taking the time to swim, to walk, to breathe, and to use the materials at hand to better nurture ideas and self-reflection.

Nature and trees are important to me. They have supported me, cleansed me, and calmed me throughout these many years. A walk in the park or alongside the river has always allowed for invaluable insight and consolation to arise, even in the most difficult times. Even in the midst of a busy teaching schedule, or personal challenges, a weekend in nature, or a summer trip to the sea, has inspired me and lifted me in inexplicable ways.

Treehouse, Watercolor by Donna Lewis

But, fleeing the city isn’t always necessary. Some of my best ideas have arisen during my treks through New York. I have been a resident of Manhattan for four decades and experienced the concrete jungle as a place with pockets of nature to discover, even amidst the hustle and bustle. Luckily, I considered Washington Square Park to be my backyard, the West Side Highway my exercise spot, and the playgrounds as a great source of recreation for my children.

Public spaces are significant and all-important to life in the city. They allow families and individuals to connect with each other to embrace places that improve our sense of wellbeing, while calming our senses, and relaxing our minds. 

Manhattan is a place with rivers on either side. Urban planners have come to realize the importance of these natural assets. Parks, green spaces, and piers with plantings have become the new vision for the city, and I am grateful for that. 

Much in the same way that nature connects us to our mother, the earth— my paintings connect me with my soul’s calling. We are intertwined like trees, like rivers, like oceans, and like the air we breathe. The entwinement expands outward in my heart, through my family of origin and my own family of procreation.

Three Sisters, Mixed Media by Donna Lewis

I am appreciating the perennial nature of mothering. It never stops. Unlike the retirement I am taking from school, my adult children and I continue to develop our inextricable bond. As I care for my aging mother, Leila (now 88) with my four sisters, I watch the changing seasons, the expanding experiences, and the cycle of life: being a child, having a child, and caring for others’ children, and mothers has enlightened my existence, and influenced my artistic practice.

‘The Trees’, featured here in this exhibit, are a window into all of these things and hopefully reflect the whimsy, terror, and acceptance of the changes that are all around us, all the time. We cannot separate ourselves from that which we are. So, I hope to continue to find the courage and fortitude for this next phase of the journey, and I hope to do it with creative gusto, a little more in balance, perhaps at a slightly more relaxed pace. 

We here at MOM are so grateful to have Donna as our newest resident artist and are so grateful for her fantastic contribution to M.O.M.’s archives as she gives us glimpses into her work, her creative process, and unique perspective. Also be sure to follow us on Instagram for updates as well as more of her thoughts on our residency while she stays this December! Happy Holidays Everyone!

Instagram: @museumofmotherhood

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.”

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Art Blog Caregiving Education Featured Feminism Media MOM Art Annex motherhood Residency Spiritual Motherhood st petersburg

Mom Residency Highlights Actor, Singer-Songwriter-Drummer, Artist & Independent Scholar Polly Wood

Singer, Songwriter, Drummer, Artist & In, Actor & Independent Scholar Polly Wood

The most recent addition to our residency program has been Polly Wood, MFA, MA an accomplished singer, songwriter, drummer, artist, actor and independent scholar. In her various areas of expertise and representative media, Polly strives to focus on the “preservation of the sacred feminine.” Through her residency, you will come to see her passion for her art, her community, her love for family and her vivacious spirit. 

Polly began her artistic journey through fifteen years of dance training and performance in the styles of tap, jazz, ballet, acrobatics. Dance and youth theatre led her to study performing and visual arts in college, where her focus shifted towards Acting. Prior to graduating, she took a hiatus to grow as a musician and artist, gaining performance experience and inspiration from creative collaboration within her community. It was also during this time she explored her passion for the female experience of pregnancy and birth. Building up a career as a doula– a non-medical professional child-birth assistant- she provided support to women and families throughout their pregnancy, and the process of labor, delivery, and early post-childbirth experiences. She also led mother-baby movement classes, birth-art-workshops, artfully created plaster belly casts for over 50 beautiful pregnant bellies, and produced and choreographed A Birth Dance–a modern dance performance and community birth celebration.   

Almost a decade after dropping out of performing arts school, Polly returned to college with a toddler in tow to complete her Bachelor’s degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies. From there she earned a Master’s degree in Women’s Spirituality, and an M.F.A. in Creative Inquiry, both from New College of California. She focused on global economics & the sacred feminine; cross-cultural rites-of-passage; ritual performance and art as a sacred practice. Her master’s thesis The Menstrual Origins of Money was published in 2006. As a singer-songwriter-drummer Polly has performed her original music across the United States and bit in Canada. Much of her visual art over the years followed the themes of pregnancy, birth and the divine feminine in the embodiment of whom she calls Radwoman. 

Above are samples of Polly’s visual artistic works. From left to right: Radwoman Placenta Power (1), Radwoman Fire Songs (2), Radwoman Earth Mother (3), Miss River’s Moon (4), Birds of Change 2 (5), Into the Nest (6), Birds of Change (7), Tree of Life of Instillation (8 & 9).

As a multi-disciplinary artist, Polly’s creative work goes where she feels most lit up. Most recently her passions have come full circle to a creative pursuit of her youth: Acting. This past year offered her baby steps into entering the film & television industry. She is represented by the talent agency Phirgun Mair Worldwide. Feeling grateful for her agent and loving the auditions that come her way, she looks forward to booking future gigs. 

This is Polly’s third engagement with the Museum of Motherhood. In early 2010 she curated a 12-week Sacred Feminine exhibit online and later that year was a guest artist for the Mamapalooza/M.O.M. Conference in New York City. 

After nearly two decades of birth & postpartum work; visual/performing arts and scholarship focused on themes of mothering, the sacred feminine and rites-of-passage, Polly comes to the M.O.M residency to create What Is Left in an Empty Nest? 

Inspired by a recent phone conversation wherein she offered (both ‘good’ and embarrassingly, ‘bad’) advice to her daughter regarding one of her college assignments, Polly envisioned what would happen if she were able to take and apply her own advice as easily as it was for her to dish it out. The next step became evident, and applying for the M.O.M residency was a part of that. 

Polly is looking forward to being Artist-in-Residence at the M.O.M Art Annex, as well as experiencing what unfolds as she engages both her personal community and the Museum of Motherhood community in offering their ‘advice’ towards her creation. In addition to using this collective advice the help stitch and weave the nest together, Polly will be working with themes of grief, emptiness and expansion that can arise when children leave home -whether to spread their wings on their own, or to spend time with another parent- as well as the theme of invisibility that can accompany the gift of being in a step-parent role. Polly will be building an ‘empty nest’ for the Museum of Motherhood, both highlighting a common experience and as a personal rite-of-passage. 

We can’t wait to have Polly back as a returning resident artist and are so grateful to have her fantastic contribution to M.O.M.’s archives. 

To learn more about Polly, her amazing works, and any additional publications, please check out these links to her personal website, additional Resume, and projects: 

https://www.pollywood.ws

http://www.radwoman.com 

https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/PollyWood

Also be sure to follow her on Insta and FB for updates as well as more of her thoughts on our residency!

Instagram: @ms._polly_wood

Facebook: Polly Wood

If you are interested in applying for a 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.”

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Art Conferences Feminism Literature motherhood hall of fame

This Year For Mothers’ Day – Buy a Book, Attend a Conference or Gallery, Share Knowledge

Mothers’ Day Week 2016

2016 INDUCTIONS to the Motherhood Hall of Fame; Honor the Call of the Midwife – Join us!

Thursday, May 5 – Motherhood Hall of Fame; Columbia Teacher’s College 7:30-9PM (Free). 525 West 120th Street Milbank Chapel, NYC.

Join us for drinks before at 7PM. RSVP Please: http://motherhoodfoundation.wpcomstaging.com/motherhood-hall-of-fame/

Performances, story-telling, and induction ceremony with co-sponsors:

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR HONOREES

Ruth Lubic (ED.D. ‘79, M.A. ‘61, B.S. ‘59)

Kimm Sun, is a Certified Nurse Midwife, Nurse Practitioner

MHOF_Header_2016

12th Annual M.O.M. Academic Conference

THEORIZING MOTHERHOOD IN THE ACADEMY

***M.O.M. Conference Panelists and Presenters – See Schedule. Each time slot is 20 minutes (unless I have written to tell you differently)***

Friday, May 6th MORNING OPENING KEYNOTE: Laura Tropp specializes in media and politics and representations of pregnancy, motherhood, and families in popular culture.

Saturday, May 7th MORNING OPENING KEYNOTE: Kimberly Seals Allers whose 5th book The Big Let Down will be published this summer. Kimberly is an award-winning journalist, author and a nationally recognized media commentator, speaker, consultant and advocate for infant health.

MORE at M.O.M./ FULL SCHEDULE

FACILITIES

We will be meeting in the Alumni Room, which is in the lower portion of the library. Look for signs, or take the elevator from the O’Malley Library.

TECH SUPPORT

There is a power point projector, computer, speaker, and screen onsite. Bring your laptop or a zip drive, or post your material in the cloud and you will be able to present using the equipment at our location. There is some limited space for brochures, art, and books as well. Feel free to share your passions.

BAGEL & COFFEE BREAKFAST WILL BE PROVIDED EACH DAY

SOCIAL MEDIA 

Do you have a twitter handle or a Facebook page? Let’s connect!!

  1. @MOMmuseum
  2. https://www.facebook.com/MOMmuseum/

CONFERENCE LOCATION

May 6-7 MOM Conference at Manhattan College, 4513 Manhattan College Parkway, Bronx, NY 10471 (Schedule TBD) – We will updating the schedule in the next few weeks.

TRANSPORTATION

New York City has two major airports: JFK and LaGuardia.

Public transportation is available from both via train, and cab.

The train from JFK is rather straightforward and costs about $7.50. I would encourage you not to be fearful about taking this option if budget is a concern. There are people at the airport who can direct you, and I’ve done this many times. Here is a link to the NYC Subway Map: http://web.mta.info/nyct/maps/subwaymap.pdf

PANELS, CULTURE, and SPECIAL GATHERINGS

New York City is an amazing place. Surely you will want to do a little exploring. We also plan on organizing a few special panels, roundtable discussions, and speakers for you, but will make sure there is time in the evenings to step out, either with conference goers or on your own.

GETTING AROUND

Here is a subway map of Manhattan.

FYI, the subway that best serves Manhattan College is the #1 or #6 train on the West Side. Link to more info and directions to MC.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. We will continue to update the Conference tab.

  • ALSO PLEASE SEE – DEMETER PRESS – NEW RELEASE – NEW MATERNALISMS – ORDER NOW
  • New_Maternalisms
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Conferences Featured motherhood hall of fame

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ACCEPTED CONFERENCE PRESENTERS

MOM_logo_SM

THEORIZING MOTHERHOOD IN THE ACADEMY

VIEW NEWSLETTER

– THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE –

2016 INDUCTIONS Honor the Call of the Midwife

Thursday, May 5 – Motherhood Hall of Fame; Columbia Teacher’s College 7:30-9PM (Free). 525 West 120th Street Milbank Chapel, NYC.

Join us for drinks before at 7PM. RSVP Please: http://motherhoodfoundation.wpcomstaging.com/motherhood-hall-of-fame/

Performances, story-telling, and induction ceremony with co-sponsors:

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR HONOREES

Ruth Lubic (ED.D. ‘79, M.A. ‘61, B.S. ‘59) has championed community-based birthing by listening to the needs of the people she serves. It’s an approach she honed at TC. Lubic is considered among the mothers of the American midwifery movement. The recipient of a MacArthur “genius award,” she co-founded the National Association of Childbearing Centers, has inspired creation of more than 300 free-standing birth centers and is an American Academy of Nursing “living legend.”

Kimm Sun, is a Certified Nurse Midwife, Nurse Practitioner who attends home births in New York City.  Previously a photographer, she started her midwifery career as a labor and delivery nurse over ten years ago and then worked in a community hospital as a staff midwife.  She received her Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Born in Malaysia and of Chinese heritage, she speaks five languages and has taught birth attendants in Micronesia, Haiti, Nepal, Vietnam and Kenya. Besides caring for her much loved “mama clients”, she is currently developing a different approach to birth education that is more accurate to the woman’s actual internal experience.

MHOF_Logos_2016

12th Annual M.O.M. Academic Conference

THEORIZING MOTHERHOOD IN THE ACADEMY

(I expect to have the final schedule posted online over the weekend. Through the date of your presentation will not change, some time slots may be adjusted.)

LauraFriday, May 6th MORNING OPENING KEYNOTE: Laura Tropp specializes in media and politics and representations of pregnancy, motherhood, and families in popular culture. She teaches courses in communication theory, media history, campaigns and elections, media law and motherhood studies. Her books include: Womb With A View and Deconstructing Dads.

KimSaturday, May 7th MORNING OPENING KEYNOTE: Kimberly Seals Allers whose 5th book The Big Let Down will be published this summer. Kimberly is an award-winning journalist, author and a nationally recognized media commentator, speaker, consultant, and advocate for infant health. A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine. Kimberly is widely considered a leading voice in the counterculture movement in infant feeding. Kimberly’s fifth book, The Big Let Down—How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding will be published by St. Martin’s Press this summer.

MORE at M.O.M.

FACILITIES

There is a power point projector, computer, speaker, and screen onsite. Bring your laptop or a zip drive, or post your material in the cloud and you will be able to present using the equipment at our location. There is some limited space for brochures, art, and books as well. Feel free to share your passions.

BAGEL & COFFEE BREAKFAST WILL BE PROVIDED EACH DAY

SOCIAL MEDIA 

Do you have a twitter handle or a Facebook page? Let’s connect!!

  1. @MOMmuseum
  2. https://www.facebook.com/MOMmuseum/

CONFERENCE LOCATION

May 6-7 MOM Conference at Manhattan College, 4513 Manhattan College Parkway, Bronx, NY 10471 (Schedule TBD) – We will updating the schedule in the next few weeks.

TRANSPORTATION

New York City has two major airports: JFK and LaGuardia.

Public transportation is available from both via train, and cab.

The train from JFK is rather straightforward and costs about $7.50. I would encourage you not to be fearful about taking this option if budget is a concern. There are people at the airport who can direct you, and I’ve done this many times. Here is a link to the NYC Subway Map: http://web.mta.info/nyct/maps/subwaymap.pdf

PANELS, CULTURE, and SPECIAL GATHERINGS

New York City is an amazing place. Surely you will want to do a little exploring. We also plan on organizing a few special panels, roundtable discussions, and speakers for you, but will make sure there is time in the evenings to step out, either with conference goers or on your own.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Manhattan is divided into the West and East sides, with subway trains that operate separately on either side of the city. It can be a 40 minute trek from the West to East side, either by bus, or foot, or crosstown subway. TRY to stay on the WEST SIDE IF POSSIBLE, anywhere from Times Square to the north: West 40th Street, 50s, 70’s, all the way to Harlem etc. Included here is a subway map of Manhattan.

FYI, the subway that best serves Manhattan College is the #1 or #6 train on the West Side. Link to more info and directions to MC.

Mother Studies is a field of interdisciplinary study devoted to the issues, experiences, topics, history, and culture of mothers, mothering, and motherhood. How else can we identify and define this new and emerging field? Some proposed concepts include “me” and “otherness” or m/otherness interpretations, procreation, caregiving, maternal health, motherhood as experience and institution, and relational theory as navigated within social and cultural constructions. What are its key elements, its compliments, and how can we theorize motherhood in the academy? How can mother and/or father studies be introduced in more formal ways within classrooms, including high school? Do we need an interdisciplinary degree in mother or father studies on the undergraduate or graduate level? If you are already teaching motherhood or mothering studies, or fatherhood, fathering studies, from what perspective or discipline do you approach the work? Please share your ideas. This is the forum to put this field into place.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THIS YEAR’S EVENTS

Questions: Info@MOMmuseum.org

Categories
Featured

On My Experience of Motherhood Studies

PatriciaHillCollinsYou may have seen some of my blog posts over the last several weeks that came from the response papers I wrote for the Introduction to Mother Studies course offered through the museum. With a capstone paper using research on current topics related to reproductive technology, the class culminated three weeks ago last Sunday afternoon. I promised myself that I would not begin watching the newest season of Orange is the New Black until the course finished, and I have since been relishing these moments of TV consumption.

Other than satisfying my Netflix addiction, I have been able to reflect back on the course since finishing it. I was a Sociology major in college but took a lot of classes in the Women’s Studies department. Adrienne Rich and Patricia Hill Collins contributed foundational texts to our study in Introduction to Mother Studies. The names and works of these scholars were familiar to me from undergrad. However, studying them in the context of Introduction to Mother Studies, I began to see them in a new light…as mothers. Because of the strength of their words and power of their knowledge, I had always identified them as feminist first, whatever else second. But in a movement where “the personal is political” has been a rallying cry, perhaps for them, they would see themselves as mother/sister/self first, feminist second.

In “Beyond Mothers and Fathers,” Barbara Katz Rothman, a pioneer to the movement, said: “Mothering is an activity, a project…[M]otherhood…is not just a physical or emotional relationship – it is also an intellectual activity.” Scholars and writers have known this and have been doing Mother Studies work for a long time. Whether we have seen it as such or not, the personal has always been political. When women gave birth in their homes attended by practiced midwives, and then again when slander campaigns saw the shift to in-hospital births, Mother Studies was in action. When white middle-class housewives’ alienation derived from raising children in suburban America gave way to the rise of second-wave feminism, Mother Studies was in action. When the eugenics movement created a legacy of racist and anti-poverty sterilization policies, Mother Studies was in action. When images of the super-mom were contrasted with social commentary on the decline of the American family, Mother Studies was in action. When feminists came to the defense of Mary Beth Whitehead, a surrogate who refused to give up her baby, questioning what makes a mother, Mother Studies was in action. We are not recreating the wheel. Our Introduction to Mother Studies is the first time that we are calling it such and the first time we are carving out a space for it as a legitimate discipline. We are making the personal political…and academic.

Find out more about classes in Mother Studies online here.

By: Jenny Nigro, MoM Online Intern

Categories
Classes

Online Classes in Mother Studies Have Started [CLICK]

Online classes have started.

The Museum of Motherhood is proud to launch online classes in Mother Studies [LINK]. Organized and taught by Martha Joy Rose, BFA, MA, who is a pioneer in the field, the first session will be offered as part of a seven week summer intensive called “Introduction to Mother Studies.”

Mother Studies is a field of interdisciplinary study devoted to the issues, experiences, topics, history, and culture of mothers, mothering, and motherhood.

This bold new experiment aims to increase understanding and expand dialogue within the academic, and para-academic realm of Mother Studies: also known as Motherhood Studies, Mothering Studies, and Maternal Studies.

We look forward to adding additional classes in the future. If you have a course ready to go, and want to bring it to the Museum of Motherhood community, please write us at MOMmuseum@gmail.com

Registration is open currently closed for the 7 week summer accelerated class: (Summer schedule is June 15 – July 27).

Registration for the fall semester begins July 15 here.

All coursework takes place online and can be completed according to your personal schedule.

  • Learn about key issues facing mothers in the United States
  • Gain knowledge about the history of American motherhood
  • Understand theories of race, class, and gender
  • Learn about motherhood and feminism
  • Experience the art of motherhood
  • Understand how American family policies compare to other countries’
  • Empower your life through knowledge
  • Understand your personal position relative to dominant ideologies
  • Be part of an intellectual movement and supportive community

Who Should Take This Class: This course is appropriate for college students, professionals, and para-academics (laypeople) interested in expanding their knowledge base. Materials are presented from an interdisciplinary perspective, and are devoted to the issues, experiences, topics, history, and culture of mothers, mothering, and motherhood. This class can also serve as a launching point for those hoping to write about motherhood and whom may wish to submit to the Journal of Mother Studies (JourMS) for publishing credit.