Exhibition Introduction

Welcome to the Motherhood Art gallery. Here you will be taken on a trip of emotions, connections, hassles, insecurities, and bonds that many mothers feel through the eyes of a variety of artists. This show will start with the intimate bonds between mother and child and end with the raw emotional insecurities many woman have experienced about their bodies. First, you will experience the connection between a mother and her child in an intimate painting by Mary Cassatt of a daily routine of combing a child’s hair. Then, Ron Mueck captures the raw feelings, emotions, and defeat of motherhood in his realistic sculpture of a mother accomplishing her daily chores. Ivette Ivens explores the current issues of discrimination, social harassment, and unwelcoming feelings of breastfeeding in society today. In the first several months of motherhood, a mother may lose sight of the bond, connection, and tender moments of breastfeeding and feel like the milkmaid depicted in Paul Gauguin’s painting. Rogier van der Weyden expresses the long traveled road of exhaustion and the connection between mothers experiencing life within them. Keith Haring’s ambiguity of bold colors and dancing lines deliver a message of ritual or excitement of motherhood. Marc Quinn demonstrates that the love of a mother is bigger than her arms in his sculpture of Alison Lapper, a disabled pregnant woman. Next, Damien Hirst will display a more mechanical process of preparation to motherhood. His sculpture may appeal to those who may have to work by insemination or following a strict calendar in order to become pregnant. Then, you will visit Amanda Greavette’s painting of a mother creating her nest to prepare herself for the rest of her life of nurturing, caring for, and loving her baby. Her painting is of natural raw emotions of pregnancy. Finally, Lara Birchler will greet you with, A YoniVerse Monologue. Here you will gain an appreciation for the flower of life, your Yoni, that is the beginning of the experience of motherhood.

Exhibit tour includes:
Mary Cassatt- Mother Combing Her Child's Hair
Ron Mueck- Woman with Shopping
Ivette Ivens- Breastfeeding Moms
Paul Gauguin- The Milkmaid
Rogier van Weyden-Visitation
Keith Haring- Fertility #1
Marc Quinn- Alison Lapper Pregnant
Damien Hirst- The Virgin Mother
Amanda Greavette- Under the Moon
Lara Birchler- A YoniVerse Monologue and pregnant belly casts.