My zines at the Greenfield Public Library.
Author: Esther
100 Eyes
Installation shots from MICAfest The M/others’ View Art Exhibtion at Northampton Center for the Arts May 2024.
I make pottery with imagery from mythology and heroic poetry. Parents (especially mothers) are under constant surveillance, formally by the state, but also informally whenever we parent in public. My ceramic work exploring the myth of Argus (a giant covered with one hundred eyes, “the Watcher”) positions those one hundred eyes within a space where there is the potential for both witnessing and validation, or surveillance and judgment.
I’m a parent of two young children (ages 9 and 4), growing up without school. I have a chronic illness that adds complexity to parenting and working. Disability has forced me to look critically at how our society applies value to work, reproductive labor, and parenting. As parents, we have chosen to home educate, in part so that we can live at a pace that adapts to my own varying capacity.
Fundraisers
Thank you everyone who has bought work from me in the last few months! Together, we raised $360 for the Wildflower Alliance, $800 for Forbes Library Children’s Services, and $100 for Translate Gender. I also recently donated a set of mugs to the Northampton Parents Center silent auction, and a fancy plate featuring Beowulf was auctioned off to benefit Looky Here.
Pots
I spent this summer in the studio making mugs while listening to Beowulf on repeat.
Northampton Print and Book Fair, 33 Hawley St, Northampton, MA, October 1, 12-5p
Artery, 289 High Street, Holyoke, MA, opening soon Thurs-Sat (more info TBA)
Brushworks Arts & Industry Open Studios, 221 Pine Street, Florence, MA November 12 & 13
Chapter XXXII/Week 32
Pandemic diary, birth story, Moby-Dick fanzine. Includes Wolverine meditation mini-zine. Available at Printed Matter.