About Us

Over the past two years, a growing group of Artist/Mothers throughout Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas has come together to produce three exhibitions. Each exhibition seeks to increase visibility and celebrate the often-unseen role of motherhood and maternal labor.

We are now preparing a new exhibition for Brew House Arts, to run July 11-Aug 24. We'll continue to explore both shared and individual experiences of mothering and motherhood and the different stages of the mothering experience, from the mother of a newborn to the mother with an empty nest. These common threads will tie together a wide variety of materials and processes, including photography, soft sculpture and textile, ceramics, mixed media collage, painting, sculpture, and performance.

As a Pittsburgh Artist/Mother exhibition group we are diverse in our age ranges, life experiences, stages of mothering, and outlooks. Caretaking can often be an isolating experience, so we focus on connecting with one another as mothers and as artists, by curating the show as a group. We also create ties with the audience that comes to see the exhibition by holding workshops, performances, and brunches as part of the exhibition. We focus on meeting each other where we are in our own practices and have used our annual exhibitions to experiment with new ways of working.

The Artist/Mother Taking Up Space Pittsburgh group came together through a project of Thrive Together Network. In 2022, the Taking. Up. Space. initiative began as a way for artist/mothers to connect and support one another as they found ways to bring their work to new audiences through independent shows. Several of us realized that we were based here in Pittsburgh, and decided to join forces. We invited a few more artist/mothers making high caliber work, and presented two exhibitions that spring. We grew further with a third show in 2023, and in 2024 we are growing again! 

Through our collaboration, the artists in our group build bridges among a wide range of networks in the Pittsburgh area. These connections include Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Sibyls Shrine, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, and Fiber Arts Guild of Pittsburgh; artists have recently exhibited at The Mattress Factory, Concept Gallery, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, and The Tomayko Foundation; and have completed residencies at Contemporary Craft and Brew House Distillery Program.