MOTHERS’ ART CLASS

Iterations of Curriculum

This curriculum is an evolving, living framework that is co-created with participants drawing from their lived experiences, feminist literature, participatory action research, contemporary art work and process, art therapy, psychology, and any and all other invested contributors.

This project is born from a profound need I feel in my own life. As such I am making the documentation and planning of it freely available as a contribution tp the ongoing work of changing the world to a partnership model of society rather than the current domination model (see the work of Riane Eisler). Motherhood was an experience I simultaneously dreaded and anticipated hopefully my whole life. Yet only the reality of nights blurred with days, physical and mental isolation, and intense ambivalence could help me see so clearly the abandoned state of motherhood.

You can read a literature review or see some art that further describes my own experience and the broader context.

In navigating options I am using the tools I have, tools I believe in, tools I have committed my life’s work to. I am an artist and educator that has studied and worked in trying to better understand how art can function to connect communities. Never before had I needed community as desperately as when I was navigating the transition of becoming a mother, a time of life also called matrescence.

A few years later, in many ways still reeling, I have found and built enough function in my mothering experience that I have been teaching art classes at the city rec center and started a masters degree at the University of Cincinnati. In the context of my job and my degree I have started an art class specifically for new moms. It is an ever evolving class that truly aims to function in whatever way is best for the present participants. A key part of the structure is that my role as facilitator positions me also as a participant in many ways.

There are two current options for this class.

There is a weekly six week class at the rec center that has full access to on campus childcare, art supplies such as clay, kilns, wood burners and more, and an art class room. Snacks and supplies are included in the registration fee.

There is also a more intimate ongoing art group that meets every other week at participants’ homes to work on individual or group projects together. Snacks and supplies are provided potluck style.

Both options are very much collectively designed with all the participants choosing the rules and rituals of the group and how the time will be used.

Both groups have the option of decided the themes and contributing their work to a zine, Becoming Mother, that will be published quarterly.

Through the Provo Rec Center

Registration 

6 week, 1 class/week

2 sessions

8 students (but may accommodate more or less) ages 18+

Come take some time to connect with yourself and fellow new moms through art making! We will have snacks, music, and art projects as we navigate this huge transition together. Projects will include sketching, collage, photography, and more! Child care is available through the Rec Center's Child Watch for children ages 6 months through 8 years by reservation for $3 per hour for the first child, each additional child $2 per hour.

If participants are unable to attend class they can access a summary worksheet of the class, a video of what we did, and borrow supplies and tools to do some work. Fellow participants can help prepare these materials as they are able and willing.

WEEK 1

• Introductions

  • Name

  • Creative habit

  • Kimber’s questions on paper game/Question drawing/all just answer the same questions

• Prep Group Reflection Questions and ask the group what else we could talk about

  • What feels supportive to you right now?

  • What feels nurturing to you right now?

  • What helps you connect with other people?

  • When do you feel the most yourself?

  • What do you do that is only for you?

  • What have you learned about yourself as a mother?

  • What do you miss since becoming a mother?

  • What have you gained since becoming a mom?

  • What is your favorite snack?

  • What art skills would you like to learn?

  • What would make motherhood better for you?

  • I wish motherhood was less:

  • I wish motherhood was more:

  • What about motherhood is not talked about enough?

  • What would make this class a safe space for you?

  • What do you hope to leave this class with?

• Free write/draw/collage/paint about what we need from this class

• Decide on project and daily outline

• Meditation

• Reflection

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

• (Last Wet Clay Day if doing clay)

WEEK 5

• (Glazing)

WEEK 6

• Prep Group Reflection Questions and ask the group what else we could talk about starting with this Reflection and the possibilities below.

  • What will you remember from this class?

  • What was your favorite part of the class?

  • What are you glad was part of this class?

  • What do you wish was part of the class? What could it have substituted for?

  • Did you feel nurtured in this class?

  • Do you feel more connected to your community?

• Class picture with work