Reconciling Art and Mothering

Dr Rachel Epp Buller is Assistant Professor of Art at Bethel College, an independent curator and artist, and a regional coordinator of The Feminist Art Project.

Reconciling Art and Mothering contributes a chorus of new voices to the growing body of scholarship on art and the maternal and, for the first time, focuses exclusively on maternal representations and experiences within visual art worldwide. This innovative collection joins the voices of practicing artists with those of art historians. Working against a hegemonic construction of motherhood, the contributors discuss diverse feminist mothering experiences around the globe, from maternal ambivalence to queer mothering to quests for self-fulfillment.

Contents: Introduction, Rachel Epp Buller; Part I On Representing the Maternal Body: Critical and Theoretical Reflections: Modern motherhood and female sociability in the art of Marguerite Gérard, Heather Belknap Jensen; Of milk and homeland: breastfeeding, immigrant mothers, and eugenics in the 19th and 21st centuries, Deborah J. Wilk; Chana Orloff: sculpting as a modern Jewish mother, Paula J. Birnbaum; Departures and returns: figuring the mother's body in the art of Betye and Alison Saar, Jessica Dallow; Making the Black maternal visible: Renée Cox's family portraits, Andrea Liss; Lesbian, pervert, mother: Catherine Opie's photographic transgressions, Erin Barnett; Participatory practices between mother and daughter: the art of Amanda Heng and Shia Yih Yiing, Cecily Cheo; 'I've got it from my mother': exploring the figure of the mother in contemporary Polish art, Elzbieta Korolczuk; Jess Dobkin: mom, dyke, frog, Charles Reeve. Part II Contemporary Artist-Mothers: Statements and Negotiations: An introduction to the artists' section: maternal themes in contemporary art, Rachel Epp Buller; Post partum blues: the figure/ground, Mariángeles Soto-Díaz; Art about motherhood - the last taboo? Reflections of an American artist in Paris, Diana Quinby; Maternal timelines, Sandra Matthews; Mothering twentysomethings, Gail Rebhan; The act with no image: creating a feminist aesthetic of childbirth, Jessica D. Clements; Finding the balance: a dialogue between three artists, Jackie Skrzynski; Spoilt milk: ambivalence and the language of casein, Denise Ferris; Expressing the end: a visual breastfeeding chronicle, Rachel Epp Buller; Reproduction: an apologia of the female nude, Maru Ituarte; In search of mother, Erika Swinson; Resume, Joan Linder; Masks and motherhood: field notes from the kitchen table, a living inquiry, Nané Ariadne Jordan; Exquisite tension: the annotated artist mother, Elizabeth Mackenzie; Childhoods, Natasha Christopher; Reflections on art, motherhood, and maternal ambivalence, Myrel Chernick; Bibliography; Index.