Mothering + Creativity is a convening that explores how practices of art making and caregiving overlap as creative processes. This two-part program takes an expansive view of the act of mothering and centers the perspective of femme-identified caretakers. 

The convening will begin with a panel conversation between artists Liz Cohen, Amber Doe, Sara Hubbs, Anh-Thuy Nguyen, and Fay Ray, moderated by Natalie Brewster Nguyen, who will present their art practices and share personal experiences and strategies for balancing and reconciling the dual roles of artist and caregiver. The second part of the day includes lunch and small breakout groups for participants to discuss topics relevant to sustaining a creative practice while caring for life.

Simultaneous arts education programs for youth ages 5-12 are provided by MOCA at no cost to participants. Youth will engage in DIY and sustainable design activities that explore eco-conscious fashion and creative reuse.

Register here.

Schedule:

11am: Welcome with Exo coffee and La Estrella Bakery pastries

11:15am - 12:30pm: Artist panel 

12:30pm - 2pm: Lunch and breakout discussions around sustaining a creative practice while caring for life.

About the Panelists

Liz Cohen’s artworks are known for pushing boundaries of identity, gender roles, labor, immigration, nonconformity, and resistance. Primarily known for her photography, Cohen’s practice also includes performance and sculpture. Born in Phoenix in 1973, Cohen is the child of Colombian parents (her father was first generation of Syrian Jewish descent). She earned an MFA in photography from the California College of the Arts (San Francisco) and a BFA from School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts (Boston). Cohen has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Louis Comfort, Tiffany Foundation, and the MacDowell Colony. Since 2017 Cohen has served as Professor at the School of Art at Arizona State University, Tempe.

Amber Doe (b. Washington DC) currently lives and works in Tucson, AZ. She holds a BFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a recipient of the 2023 Night Bloom MOCA Grant for the Warhol Foundation, Arizona Commission on the Arts Research and Development Grant, 2023 Projecting All Voices ASU and Mellon Foundation Fellowship, and the 2021 Abbey Awards Fellowship. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, The LeRoy Neiman Art Gallery, and Untitled Gallery, New York, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids  Gabriel Rolt Gallery, Amsterdam, La Ira de Dios, Buenos Aires, UNREPD Gallery, Los Angeles, Pidgin Palace and Snakebite Gallery, Tucson.   

Sara Hubbs completed a BFA in Painting at Arizona State University and an MFA in Visual Art at The George Washington University where she received the Morris Louis Fellowship. Her work has been included in group shows at the Ex-Teresa Arte Cultural in Mexico City, The Delaware Contemporary, Collarworks in Troy, NY, The Tucson Museum of Art and Carnation Contemporary in Portland, OR. In 2023, she presented a solo booth at NADA New York with Everybody from Tucson, AZ. Sara attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and at The Cooper Union. She received an R & D Grant from The Arizona Commission on the Arts and was a founding member of the Stew-dio Visit Artist Collective, a recipient of a stART Grant from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona. Recently, her work was included in New Glass Review 42 from the Corning Museum of Glass and her collaborative project, DelaLuz, was shown at Espacio CDMX for Design Week Mexico in Mexico City. Sara also founded and operates Millville Artist Studios in Tucson, AZ. She lives with her partner and child in Tucson, AZ.

Anh-Thuy Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American multidisciplinary artist, whose work highlights human relationships and cultural conflicts, focusing on food and language through photography and extended media.Nguyen has received grants and fellowships from the Arizona Commissions for the Arts, Art Foundations for Tucson and Southern Arizona, Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, and the Oklahoma Center for Humanities. Nguyen’s work has been exhibited at Tucson Museum of Art, Amarillo Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art among others. She lives and works between Tucson, Arizona, the USA and Ho Chi Minh city, Viet Nam. 

Natalie Brewster Nguyen (Nat aka Surgeon) is a Queer BIPOC multi-disciplinary performance and installation artist, writer, actor, entrepreneur and movement artist.  They are a lifelong activist and community organizer, consulting and educating around intersectional social justice issues and DEIB with their company Justice Movement. Other passions include community building, circus, housing justice, sustainability and sex workers rights. They collectively co-parent their kids, and believe strongly in harm reduction, abolition, anti-capitalism, and liberation. They co-own and are a Co-Executive Director of an historic art studio warehouse called Splinter Collective in Tucson aka Cukson, AZ. Splinter Collective is a space for artists, an event space and a 501c3 non-profit focused on amplifying marginalized artists, housing justice, and community building.  Nat’s writing and poetry has been published in several anthologies and they have featured in multiple films such as the Celluloid Bordello (streaming now). They collaborate with a variety of artists and performance companies both locally and internationally, and also work on housing justice projects with the Tucson Alliance for Housing Justice and The Outlaw Project. They are a frequent collaborator and artist in residence with La Pocha Nostra. 

Fay Ray received her MFA from Columbia University and her BFA from Otis College of Art and Design. Solo exhibitions include The Soraya Art Gallery, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA; Nazarian / Curcio, Los Angeles, CA; Louis B James Gallery, New York, NY; JOAN, Los Angeles, CA; and Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Ray’s special projects and installations have been featured at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills and New York; REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA; and L.A.N.D. (Los Angeles Nomadic Division). Group exhibitions include the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA; Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris; The Mistake Room, Los Angeles and Mexico City; Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA; Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY; among others. Her work is held in the permanent collection of the Palm Springs Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Ray’s works have been reviewed by Artforum, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Magazine, Riot Material, Wallpaper*, Issue Magazine, and The Brooklyn Rail.