Alice Schavoir
All My Children, oil paint on canvas, 4’ x 4’, 2021
Mommy, wooden chair, upholstered with artist’s old clothes, rubber gloves, poly and cardboard stuffing, cotton embroidery, doilies, 2019.
This painting, inspired by the She-wolf nursing Romulus and
Remus, has been superimposed with mine and my children’s
images. Nursing is a time of limbo, where one could say a
mother is part animal, fulfilling her mammalian duties. While
nursing is natural to our species, it feels unnatural and out of
place in our society. A nursing mother has one foot in the
animal world and the other in the human world.
Mommy, wooden chair, upholstered with artist’s old clothes,
rubber gloves, poly and cardboard stuffing, cotton
embroidery, doilies, 2019.
This piece sums up how I feel as a mother and fulltime
student: one arm for nurturing, one arm for work, one arm for
housework, one arm for play (when there’s enough time.)
And the lap is nice and motherly too. One can sit and be
wrapped up in the arms.
Alice Schavoir is pursuing a degree in Studio Arts with a
concentration in Theology at Bard College. She lives in the
Hudson Valley with her husband, their daughter, her
children, and step-children.