Tag: Tara Blackwell

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AEHK Art Blog Opportunities st petersburg

MoM: Letter from the Founder – Joy Report

We’ve got our plan of action: MoM needs to focus on FINANCIALS moving forward.

OUR ACTION ITEM: It’s all about the money! Throughout the years, many teams and individuals have helped to develop the MoM vision; its mission, its programs, and its outreach. I have strived to do my best, bringing this into the world because of a deep personal commitment to mothers everywhere – the labor they perform, their experiences, their hearts and a passion for the artistic and academic study of mothers and m/otherhood. 

I moved MoM from New York City to St. Petersburg with the intention of seeing it grow and thrive after we were unable to secure a next-level space in Manhattan. Now that I have the flexibility to focus on this project full-time, I plan to solidify relationships in St. Petersburg while cultivating my personal live/work space which is now the non-profit MoM Art Annex. 

The Annex serves as an incubator project for making the MoM vision to come alive in Florida. In order to do this, attention needs to shift. To that end, the next year will be almost exclusively focused on building our coffers through memberships, donations, grants, and partnerships. We must do this if MoM is going to thrive. Please join me in this affirmation and keep this top of mind and action! This is how we put M/otherhood on the Map. Please HELP US TRIVE! Join one of our many initiatives.

It’s Not Like We’re Slackers – It’s Been a Busy Summer!

Pictured here, summer interns Sarah Akomoh and Teddy Friedline

Intern, Mary Noah. BIG shout out for her work with MoM this summer. She has reconfigured our Wisdom Sharing Document and is finishing up our Grant Sharing Document. In addition, the website has been updated with all our new information as well as our work together honing in on ‘mission‘ etc. I believe the work is well-reflected on the site! Lastly, she leaves us with new logos and a Social Media Campaign in place. Her diligence has greatly improved our infrastructure in Florida, picking up where our New York interns left off six years ago! THANK YOU MARY!

Intern, Sarah Akomoh contributed to our Grants Database and we will be submitting to the Pinellas Foundation this week. Sarah also got MoM listed here at Florida Arts Axis  THANK YOU SARAH!

Intern, Teddy Friedline has been reworking language on the JourMS site as well as the SocMS site. This has enabled appropriate updates since the project was created in 2015. Teddy will be wrapping up a social media campaign about these initiatives with us in the coming weeks. THANK YOU TEDDY!

Intern, Emma Andrews has been working on a book project for Queering Parenting. She is endeavoring to create materials that will facilitate both a child’s perspective on identity as well as adult’s perspectives. Her presentation will be available online and she will present her work on August 22nd in our Online Community Portal 7-8:30PM EST. JOIN US IF YOU CAN!

Intern, Rithik Promod begins delivering his Fertility Goddess exhibit this week. We are LOOKING FORWARD!

We hosted 4 onsite Residencies this summer at the MoM Art Annex ranging from fine arts, to print making, to writing. SHOUT OUT TO: Jessica Caldez, Tara Blackwell, Gloria Munoz, and Rachael Grad.

Elena Rodz – Website Manager, has been so impactful, helping to redesign, upgrade, and empower our website infrastructure. Her work with us is ongoing, her expertise is in the museum and non-profit marketplace, and we are all better for her involvement! THANK YOU ELENA!

Deborah Gelch – Strategic Advisor and I continue to iron out technical details of our new infrastructure modalities including Salesforce, Constant Contact, and Quickbooks integration. We are poised for memberships and tweaking the design elements. On October 21, we collaboratively host our first community cocktail event on behalf of MoM in St. Petersburg. YAY DEBORAH!

Nicole Mussleman- JourMS Editor, has been hard at work on the editorial aspects of the Journal of Mother Studies. We have more submissions than ever before and are still planning on our September 1 online publication date. Nicole also won the very prestigious award at the Hemingway Society Conference 2022. YAY NICOLE!

I will be submitting recommendations to Tracy Sidesinger, Residency Coordinator; and Zabrina Shkurti, Living Board President this week, looking at ways we might maximize MoM’s mission with existing programs. Kasia Nowaski and I will be re-connecting in September over online course development.

More to come.

Keep Swimming,

Martha JOY Rose

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Featured

Letter from the Founder- Joy Report and Welcome Rithik

WELCOME RITHIK:

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 also fill out this form online or write: INFO@MOMmuseum.org

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Art Blog Featured Featured Artists Feminism MOM Art Annex motherhood Residency

MoM Welcomes Guest Artist Tara Blackwell

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.”