Mother 7 - A Double Celebration

Mother 7
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I have no doubt Mother 7 is what my own mother envisioned for her life. Not the orange halves for breasts mind you, but the two prim and proper daughters.

Where did it all go wrong?

My mother was pregnant with me at the same time Jackie Kennedy was pregnant with John Jr. She once told me she had dreamed that one day I would marry him.

Wow. Dodged a bullet there, huh?

I’m sure I would never have made that happen even if I’d lived next door. but when your kids are just babies, I guess it could be easy to attach your own dreams to them. I tried ardently to not do that to my children.

A quick internet search let me see that there wasn’t a single famous person born the same year as my daughter that I would wish upon her. Actually, the list was mostly actors I’d never even heard of.

Goodness, I’m getting old.

Mother 6 - My Little Family

Mother 6
© Natalie Schorr 2023

My son walked in the door, looked at this piece, and immediately said “That’s me and my sister!”

He’s a genius.

This is our little family. It wasn’t always like this, all happy and neck deep in laundry, but it does follow our black/white/Jewish/Christian existence.

I enjoy being a mother. Not every day, because it’s hard work even though they are both in their 20s and pretty much cooked, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

This piece employs a lot of ephemera, and is actually one of the few pieces I’ve done that doesn’t contain any linocut. The items were gathered from old McCall’s magazines, Playboy magazine, a book about aprons and another about flowers, and a book about child photography. Add some markers, colored pencil, graphite, and paint pens.

And memories.

Mother 5 - With Peas

Mother 5
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I’m trying to push this series a bit now, so as you see things are a little more disjointed. But in a good way, right? And with peas. What’s not to like?

I was kind of thinking about how being a mother, particularly a single mother or one that gets little to no help from their spouse, is not always a joyful experience. It’s hard. Like uncooked peas.

Eyes open and ears attuned to make sure everyone survives into adulthood. And that they eat their peas.

Children always demanding your time and attention, and the challenge of finding the energy when you feel like you have nothing left to give. Should have eaten your peas.

Been there - done that - got the t-shirt. The one covered in pea purée.

Fortunately, that’s only part of the big picture of parenting small kids. Sooner or later they grow up, and you find yourself wishing for a few more family dinners where no one wants to eat their peas.

Mother 4 - Big Burger Breasts

Mother 4
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I recently had a friend take me to task over this one. What was I saying? What was I implying? They were concerned I was making some sort of political statement about a woman’s right to choose.

Not even. That had not even entered my mind when I created this piece. What had entered my mind was that sometimes your kids drive you crazy.

And sometimes your spouse sees big juicy burgers where your breasts would normally be. My ex never gave them even so much as a second glance, but I don’t really care. They get the proper amount of attention now.

When it comes to choice, my feeling is pretty simple. If you don’t want a woman to have an abortion, you need to make her an offer she can’t refuse. Are you willing to support her without judgement? Help her pay the bills? Take her beautiful child that might look nothing like you and raise that child as your own? Hmmm?

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Mother 3 - A Spoonful of Sugar

Mother 3
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I’m finding this series on mothers and motherhood to be a lot of fun to do. Not only is it intriguing to explore the experiences of both having and being a mother, it’s also challenging to push that a bit more with each piece.

A fellow Instagramer declared it “creepy and good.” I love that sort of comment! My neighbor said it was triggering, but not in a good way. Also an interesting take.

This piece features a background of Christian commentary from the late 1700s written in German (why not, right?), an apron from a book on aprons, a couple of anthuriums from a book on flowers, and lots of bits from old McCalls Magazines from the 1950s and 1960s.

I noticed that there were a whole lot of ads for flatware in these old magazines. Odd. Since I know they weren’t throwing knives and forks away in take out pizza boxes since there was no take out pizza back then, I can only surmise this was a seasonal purchase or something very hotly marketed to women with little else going on in their lives than to mull over the current trends in cutlery. Either way, it’s fascinating to consider.

Mother 2 - A Life of Quiet Desperation

Mother 2
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I know this look. I have lived these moments of “quiet desperation,” home alone with two small children and no help or support in sight. I can connect with her plight.

The good news is that it wasn’t forever. I cherish the exhaustion of those days despite the long loneliness. I cherish the time I had with my children. And I cherish the time with them now that they are grown.

I didn’t really see that when I was in the midst of it, but it’s very apparent to me now.

I’m really really grateful.

Happy Mother's Day - a New Series

Mother 1
© Natalie Schorr 2023

I pulled out a pile of old 1950s and 1960s McCall’s magazines the other day, which are all very mommy stay-at-home traditional wife oriented at the same time I was working through a treasure trove of old yearbooks I had picked up recently at a used book store, and I started to percolate on a Mothers series.

There are all kinds of mothers, and having been a mother, stepmother, and adoptive mother, I can confidently say I’ve occasionally f*cked it up in about every way imaginable. Yet they keep coming back like little boomerangs, so I can’t have done too bad a job.

I actually laid out 9 mother collages last weekend in a mad flurry of paper and scraps over the course of the weekend, but the refining and finishing take days for each one and I have that pesky day job with which to contend, so I’ve only finished one so far, but isn’t she a delight?

Instagram strangers declared her “Iconic,” “Incredibly creepy,” and “Delightfully weird.” I just love that! I think that, besides the faintly demonic look on her face, the fork held aloft with the little baby feet looking like a couple of skewered cocktail weenies is really the thing for me.

So on this Mother’s Day, I wish you all a happy one. Collage on!