AnchorMommy

Visible (M)others: what pieces speak to me?

March 25, 2010 by Shannon

I’ve been selected to participate in a gallery exhibition over the course of the next six weeks called “Visible M(others): Images of Parenting in Visual Culture.” The show runs March 4 - April 11, 2010 at the Boise State University Student Union Gallery and is free to the public (go see it!). I’m collaborating with Amy Pence-Brown over at Doin’ It All, Idaho Style. We’ll both be writing new posts on Thursday of each week for the six weeks of the exhibition, exploring ideas of how our “mommyblogs” are a sort of “digital front porch swing,” a place to share information and be heard, a forum for asking questions, showing off our kids and our skills. Mommyblogs act not only as an informational outlet, but a creative force in our contemporary maternal visual culture, as the blogs are loaded with not only verbal creativity, but also photography, crafts, and other digital imagery documenting our lives as mothers. Provoking complex questions, the exhibition presents new perspectives on traditional, contemporary, alternative or imagined parenting and how they operate in a visible/invisible landscape of maternal visual culture.

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Let’s be honest here. I’m not an artist. Crafty? Sure. Creative? I’ve been known to come up with some good ideas. But artistic? Well, that may be going a bit far. So imagine my surprise when my friend Amy Pence-Brown of Doin’ It All, Idaho Style asked if I’d like to collaborate on a project for the Visible M(others) exhibition. As soon as she said she envisioned lots of blog post writing for our project, I knew I was in.

So being in the company of so many great artists at the Boise State University Student Union Gallery is a wee bit overwhelming. There’s some really cool stuff down there. And lucky for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, or who are too far away to make it, here’s a look at some of what I think is the coolest stuff. Let me just say in advance that I won’t be detailing every piece (even though each one is really thought-provoking and interesting), but I’d just like to share a couple of projects that spoke the most to me.

First off, the piece pictured above: Alma’s Castle by Benjamin and Alma Love, a father/daughter artistic duo. It is obviously a kid magnet. (Children swarmed the thing during the opening night of the exhibition.) But for me, there’s a bigger question on display just beyond the small castle door. The inside of the structure is wallpapered with images of princesses of the Disney variety, undoubtedly colored by Alma Love. Now that I know I’m carrying a baby girl, I’ve got princesses on the mind. Will my girl be naturally drawn to them, or is a love for princesses learned? And if she does come to love the Disneyized versions of fairy tales, what does that teach her? Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen those movies. I have nothing against princesses per se, but seeing all those images of Disney heroines plastered on the walls of that castle drives home — for me — the thought that there just might be such a thing as too much when it comes to these idealized versions of femininity.

The book you see at left had me transfixed. It is an accordion book by Terra Feast, filled with hand colored illustrations. Entitled Where’s the mommy? , the piece explores an important aspect of motherhood that is often lost the in mommy mix: the decision of whether or not to become a parent. But the artist takes this dilemma one step further — will a pregnancy even occur once the decision is made to try to have a child? I remember struggling with these very questions myself, which I think is the main reason I could not rip my eyes off this piece. Another reason is the meticulous craftsmanship of this book, and the detailed illustrations within. Take a look:

Amazing, right? I love how the artist turned the notion of a traditional childrens’ storybook on its head. So creative, and so well done.

And finally, this post would not be complete without a little peek at the visual representation of my collaboration with Amy. Really, I have to give all of the credit to Amy here. This is her vision, and it’s all her stuff, except for the green vase holding the peacock feathers. That’s my one contribution. The idea is that visitors to the exhibition have a cozy space to sit and browse our blogs. Everything on the desk is meant to reflect what each of us is surrounded by when we write — cookbooks, childrens’ books, grocery lists, coffee cups — the stuff of daily life.

So there you go — your own tour of the exhibition from the comfort of your laptop. I highly recommend stopping by to see it in person if you’re able. I think it’s good to step outside the day-to-day job of mommyhood once in a while and take a look at it from an artistic point of view. Motherhood is an art (one I am a long way from perfecting) and I am inspired by those who create art based on the notion of parenting in our sometimes crazy modern world.