“The Mother Artist” Book Launch Party

“The only reason you’ll want to put down Ricketts’s lyrical tour de force is to make more art.”—Sarah Sentilles, author of Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn’t Ours

Join us for an evening celebrating the launch of The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitaiton, and Creativity as well as the many luminous contributions that mother artists make to the Philadelphia arts community on the 3rd floor of the Paradigm Arts Building. Light food and beverages will be served, and the author will give a reading at 6:00 p.m.

The Mother Artist, by Philadelphia writer Catherine Ricketts, weaves memoir with studies of the art and lives of modern and contemporary women artists who had children. Highlighting 20th-century artists like Ruth Asawa, Elizabeth Catlett, and Alice Neel, as well as contemporary Philadelphia artists like Alison Dilworth, Aimee Koran, Becky Suss, and Mickayel Thurin, The Mother Artist debunks the myth that to be an artist you must give up a family life, demonstrates the very real challenges facing women who aspire to rise in their disciplines, and explores the humanizing vision that caregivers bring to the making and shaping of culture. Rachel Yoder (Nightbitch) calls this book “brilliant and open-hearted,” while James KA Smith (editor, Image) writes, “Read this if you’re a mother and an artist, to be sure; but read this, too, if you’re human and hope for a different world.”

Admisssion includes a copy of Catherine Ricketts’s book The Mother Artist

Kids under 12 are free to attend. Dress code is festive.

Schedule:

Wellspring: A Mother Artist Project is thrilled to partner with Catherine Ricketts and Paradigm Gallery to launch her amazing new book! Let’s CELEBRATE! To do so, Wellspring will be hosting a pop up space for children and their caregivers to make art, learn about mother artists from history, read stories, and relax together. Led by cofounder, arts director, & painter, Jess Sweeney, drop in from 4-6pm for a medley of wonder and beauty to partake in:

3rd Floor, 4:00-8:00 PM: Book Launch Celebration and Art Exhibition reception. More info here: https://www.paradigmarts.org/blogs/news/the-mother-artist-group-exhibition

2nd Floor, 4:00-5:45 PM: Kids Activities and Storytime with Wellspring: A Mother Artist Project. Wellspring will be hosting a pop up space for children and their caregivers to make art, learn about mother artists from history, read stories, and relax together. Led by cofounder, arts director, & painter, Jess Sweeney, drop in from 4-6pm for a medley of wonder and beauty to partake in. Storytime will be at 5pm.

2nd Floor, 6:00 PM: Book reading with author Catherine Ricketts.

Who We Are:

Wellspring: A Mother Artist Project was founded in 2022 by mother artists, Jess Sweeney and Mia Eckes, because they believed that to flourish creatively, mothers need moments of rest, contemplation, community, and freedom, supported within their process to nurture the whole mother artist: hand, heart, mind, and soul. In order to support women in their callings as mothers and artists, Wellspring provides environments of rest and creative invitation where the exploration of creativity, faith, and motherhood are supported. A place where one’s creative life and spiritual life can intertwine, to feed the mind and soul, as well as the motherly heart and artistic hand. We host nurturing retreats, art exhibitions, panel conversations, and workshops, with a rich community that makes space for mother artists of all ages and stages, and all creative mediums and expressions. To learn more visit their website and join them for a gathering near you: http://wellspringmotherartproject.org

About Catherine Ricketts

Catherine Ricketts writes about the arts, grief, joy, and spirituality. She studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Her essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review Online, The Christian Century, Image, The Millions, Paste, and the Ploughshares blog, among other publications. While writing, she has supported the work of other working artists as a live arts presenter, having held jobs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia’s FringeArts, and the public radio station WXPN. Ricketts lives with her family near Philadelphia. Find her on Instagram at @bycatherinericketts or online at www.catherinedanaricketts.com.