“The Mother and… Project”: Celebrating Creativity and Motherhood as Pathways to Hybrid Identities
08.18.2025
The Mother and… Project at the Leedy Voulkos Art Center (September 5 – November 21, 2025) showcases the work and perspectives of artist-mothers, with strong collaboration from KCAI faculty, staff, and alumni. The exhibition, along with a website, podcast series, programming and catalog, highlights their experiences meshing parenthood with artistic practice.
As a young woman, Julie Farstad often heard the same advice: If she wanted to be a successful artist, she shouldn’t have children.
As her career progressed, Farstad noticed how few women in her circle had children. She felt the tension of an unspoken agreement that nothing should come before her art. In broader academic circles, there was constant pressure to prove that motherhood wouldn’t interfere with an “undying service to the institution,” she says sardonically.
Then, when she got pregnant at age 36, an art dealer who showed her work took her off their website. He said she wouldn’t be able to produce as much work and that he wasn’t interested in her anymore.
“I was livid,” she says. “People make a lot of assumptions about how motherhood will or will not play into your practice. And that having kids and the changes that they bring are a bad thing.”
Stories like this helped inspire The Mother and… Project (Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, September 5 - November 21, 2025), conceived as an anthology of Artist Mothers. Project Manager and co-curator Eleanor Lim-Midyett says the exhibition highlights how the featured artists balance motherhood with their creative practices.
“They're not mutually exclusive. It goes against this patriarchal paradigm of the artist who will do anything for their art. You know, this starving artist figure. But motherhood and creative practice or scholarship can actually coexist,” Lim-Midyett says. “And obviously, motherhood can be a source of creative inspiration.”
The project draws heavily from artist-mothers at the Kansas City Art Institute. Lim-Midyett, who has four children and a Ph.D, is an Assistant Professor of Liberal Arts at KCAI. Julie Farstad serves as a Professor of Painting.
The exhibition also includes the involvement of other faculty and staff including Rahele Jomepour Bell (Illustration), Laura Crehuet Berman (Printmaking), Diana Heise (Filmmaking & Photography), Kara Heitz (Lecturer in Art History), Cory Imig (Director of Alumni Relations and Professional Practice Center), and Samantha Krukowski (Painting).
Alumni artist-mothers also play significant roles. Courtney Wasson (’05 Art History & Printmaking), Executive Director of the Kansas City Artists Coalition, is co-curator. Debbie Barrett-Jones (’07 Fiber) is a contributing artist and LVAC gallery assistant. Emily Milner (’18 Filmmaking) is the audio engineer for the exhibition’s podcast.
Lim-Midyett says the exhibition found its ideal setting at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center. Founded by former KCAI sculpture professor Jim Leedy, the gallery is now directed by a mother-daughter team: KCAI alumna Stephanie Leedy (’80 Sculpture), Jim’s daughter, and Erin Woodworth, his granddaughter. Recognized as a cornerstone of the Crossroads art scene, the venue has earned Stephanie the nickname “Mother of the Crossroads,” as artist Debbie Barrett-Jones once described her.
“We had a pretty robust and enthusiastic response from the artist-mothers,” Lim-Midyett says. “We realized that we wanted to set an example for the students of the Art Institute, an example showing that it is possible to be a parent and also have a thriving art career.”
“They can support each other,” she says.
“We realized that we wanted to set an example for the students of the Art Institute, an example showing that it is possible to be a parent and also have a thriving art career.”
Image: First Aid, Althea Murphy-Price
The Mother and… Project features women who identify as both mothers and artists, emphasizing that artist-mothers are not a monolith, but instead embody a wide range of intersectional identities, perspectives, and practices. The mid-career participants (nationally and internationally exhibited) were chosen to represent varied disciplines, mediums, and cultural contexts.
At the heart of the exhibition is the idea of “the ethics of mothering,” a guiding vision through which the artist-mother raises her children and teaches them to engage with the world. Grounded in curiosity, connection, and care, this framework shapes not only her parenting, but also her studio practice. It influences the methods, materials, and stories she chooses, as well as how she navigates life.
In both caregiving and creative work, “the ethics of mothering” shows that mother and artist are not separate selves, but one whole being: fluid, intuitive, and evolving. In her life and work, mothering becomes art, and art becomes a form of mothering.
But it’s also a response to the negative comments that linger: the memories carried by mothers or mothers-to-be facing judgment rooted in stereotypes, sexism, and ignorance. Lim-Midyett recalls one such instance while pregnant with her third baby.
“And this person says, ‘Every child you have is the novel you’ll never write.’ And I thought it was just so demoralizing,” Lim-Midyett says. “There’s just this thing where people think you have to be singularly devoted to your art and you can't have any distractions.”
“But the truth is, being a mother has the potential to be inspiring. And obviously there’s a time management piece. It’s a practiced skill that forces you to realize how to make the most of life,” she says.
Farstad agrees, pushing back on the notion that parenting is “empty time.”
“They think you’re not gaining any skills, which is insane to me,” Farstad says. “This might not be what’s accepted widely in academics or even culturally, but being a parent has made me a better artist and teacher.”
Every time someone told her that being both an artist and a parent was impossible, Farstad thought of Professor Maria Tomasula, her undergraduate mentor at the University of Notre Dame. “She provided a road map in many ways,” Farstad says. Tomasula had two kids, and her work was widely exhibited. Farstad has powerful memories of being her studio assistant, studying painting while also helping nanny the children.
Artwork Images provided by Julie Farstad
Emergence: Chamaecrista fasciculata (Partridge pea), 2024, monotype, acrylic and oil on paper on panel, 8 x 8 inches
Emergence: Forest Path, 2024, acrylic and oil on panel, 30 x 30 inches
Emergence: Geranium maculatum and Asclepius tuberosa (Wild geranium and butterfly milkweed), 2024, Phototex, acrylic and oil on panel, 20 x 20 inches
Emergence: Ruellia humilis (Wild petunia), 2024, monotype, acrylic and oil on paper on panel, 8 x 8 inches
And now as an educator, Farstad says that being a mother helped her become more attuned to each student’s unique personality and strengths. It sparked her curiosity about how anyone comes into the world with particular interests, compulsions, and identities. And in turn, it helps her guide students as they explore and discover who they are.
“I don’t just see my students as a number in my class. I see them as somebody’s child, right? Like they are part of someone’s family. They’re someone’s sibling. They have this whole role in a family ecosystem that feeds into how they make work and who they are,” Farstad says.
During the pandemic, she focused on painting portraits of her kids, leading her to think deeply about climate change and dying ecosystems. She says it was her devotion to her children that inspired her to learn as much as possible about native plants and conservation, renewing a sense of wonder and curiosity to her work, and prompting her to approach the natural world with awe, questions, and a heightened sense of responsibility.
“It’s hard to truly know what that can feel like until there’s this little person that suddenly stimulates that in you. And for me, it just kind of leveled me up on my ability to give attention,” she says.
“And for me, that’s true across the board.”
Image: Nocturne: Phyciodes tharos (Pearl crescent butterfly) (2025), Julie Farstad
The Mother and… Project
Friday, September 5 – Thursday, November 21, 2025
On view at the Leedy Voulkos Art Center
Panel Discussion: “A Delicate Balance”
Saturday, September 6, 2025 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
At the Leedy Voulkos Art Center, participating artist-mothers and community members will discuss navigating motherhood alongside a thriving artistic career, including roles in art education and advocacy.
Family Art Workshops
Workshops will nurture young artists through creative exploration, affirming the gallery as a space for intergenerational engagement and imaginative growth.
Saturday in October 2025 – Date TBA
Saturday in November 2025 – Date TBA
Project Team
Project Manager, Co-curator, Podcast Producer, and Interviewer: Eleanor Lim-Midyett
Co-curator: Courtney Wasson
Senior Consultant: Laura Berman
Gallery Manager: Erin Woodworth
Gallery Assistant: Debbie Barrett-Jones
Podcast Director: Kara Heitz
Sound Editor: Emily Milner
Artist Mothers:
Debbie Barrett-Jones, Rahele Jomepour Bell, Laura Berman, Mona Cliff, Julie Farstad, Nancy Friedemann-Sanchez, Diana Heise, Cory Imig, Sarah Irvin, Priya Kambli, Samantha Krukowski, Linda Lighton, Beili Liu, Sukanya Mani, Adrienne Maples, Amy Meissner, Althea Murphy-Price, and Sonié Joi Thompson Ruffin.
The Mother and... Project aims to make visible and celebrate the empowering visual narratives of artist-mothers. Their contributions will be showcased through an exhibition, while the catalog will feature written essays and visual imagery, and the podcast series will share audio interviews.
[this] dedicated website and social media platforms will document and archive the full scope of the project. Finally, the project contributes to feminist and art-historical scholarship, amplifying the intersection of artistic practice and motherhood as a site of creativity and community.