In this moderated panel discussion, led by exhibiting artist Alison Croney Moses, the curatorial team behind the multivalent Designing Motherhood project will discuss the evolving life of the exhibition and contemplate the project’s broader social implications.
Designing Motherhood is a first-of-its-kind consideration of the entire arc of human reproduction through the lens of design, including an award-winning book, an Instagram archive, an open-source curriculum, and an exhibition that has traveled to five cities thus far. Since its 2021 premiere in Philadelphia, the exhibition has traveled to Boston (2022), Seattle (2023), Stockholm (2024), and Houston (2024).
About the Designing Motherhood Curatorial Team
Designing Motherhood is curated and organized by design historians and writers Juliana Rowen Barton, Director of the Center for the Arts and Curator of Gallery360 at Northeastern University; Michelle Millar Fisher, Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts within the Contemporary Art Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Zoë Greggs, Executive Assistant at BlackStar Film Projects; Gabriella A. Nelson, Associate Director of the Voices for Health Justice program at Community Catalyst; and Amber Winick, an independent early childhood and design researcher and curator.
Alison Croney Moses is a Boston-based artist who creates wooden objects that reach out to your senses—the smell of cedar, the color of honey or the deep blue sea, the round form that signifies safety and warmth, the gentle curve that beckons to be touched. Her artwork, My Belly, was commissioned for the first Designing Motherhood exhibition by the Maternity Care Coalition Advisors. Born and raised in North Carolina by Guyanese parents, making clothing, food, furniture, and art is embedded in her memories of childhood. She carries these values and habits into adulthood and parenting—creating experiences, conversations, and educational programs that cultivate the current and next generation of artists and leaders in art and craft. Her work is in the collections at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is a recipient of the 2023 Boston Artadia Award, the 2022 USA Fellowship in Craft, and a finalist of the 2024 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize. Her work has been featured in American Craft Magazine and Boston Art Review. She was recently named one of the 2023 WBUR 10 Makers. In the Fall of 2023, Moses’ first solo exhibition was reviewed in the Boston Globe. She holds an MA in Sustainable Business & Communities from Goddard College and a BFA in Furniture Design from Rhode Island School of Design.