Mother's Day art exhibit set for Historic Ironwood Theatre

By Pamela Jansson

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Ironwood - A new view on moms will be offered on Mother's Day at the Historic Ironwood Theatre.

Hosted by the Downtown Art Place, an art exhibit honoring moms will take place on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. in the theater's concourse. The event will include tea, appetizers and an opportunity to speak with the artists.

"Four artists explore the complexities and intricacy of losing Mom – from things they wished they had asked and said, to special memories, to ways their relationships with Mom continued and evolved after death," says a related news release. "This exhibition invites visitors to consider their relationship with their mother and other important people in their lives."

The four artists to be featured are Terry Daulton of Mercer, Terry Hudson of Gurney, April Lehman of Washburn, and Peg Sandin of Ironwood.

While installing their art at the theatre on Monday, they spoke with The Globe about what inspired them to explore the topic of motherhood.

"The inspiration was my mother passed away in 2007 of Alzheimer's, and I wanted to portray her journey," said Sandin, who organized the exhibit. "Then, I spoke with another artist, and her mother also passed away."

At that point, Sandin said it occurred to her that it would be interesting to unite a collection of artistic expressions in relation to the role of motherhood.

Sandin's own art features the extended journey of her mother's life. A collage shows her interests in sewing and knitting, playing cards and Yahtzee and building puzzles.

Sandin also has displayed paintings of her mother in her prime, when she worked as a nurse, and late in life, when the images portray her confusion more abstractly.

As Sandin said of her mother's older age, "The veil is coming over her mind, and she's losing perspective."

Daulton's artwork is in the form of pastels and scratchboard. She has created images of her mother as a teenager, sitting casually on the steps, and in her maturity, laughing hard.

"You have your own childish idea of who your mother was," said Daulton, who described her mother as "sort of a quintessential '50s mom" who "sewed all our clothes" and who also gardened and taught piano.

But she added that later on, when she is gone, you wonder what her hopes and dreams were.

Her mother also experienced dementia.

At the Sunday event, Daulton also plans to provide instrumental music.

Lehman offers a creative twist in her exhibit by sharing images of objects in relation to her mother. They include, for instance, an image of her eighth birthday cake and a favorite teddy bear.

"I use mostly acrylic, but I also use crayon," said Lehman. "I like to combine draftsmanship or drawing in my paintings."

Her artwork was created on paper and then transferred to cardboard, for a playful effect.

According to Lehman, she was inspired to commemorate her mom's possessions after going through her house when her mother moved to assisted living and also experienced a mental decline.

Hudson said that she lived with her mother in the last seven weeks of her life, and she described that period of time in joyful terms despite the sadness in her mother losing her mind and life to glioblastoma or cancer of the brain.

Hudson said that the final days of a loved one's life need not be gloom and doom. "We actually had so much fun together that we forgot what was going on," she said.

She recalled how her mother sometimes used unusual means of making her needs known, despite gradually losing her capacity to use language.

For example, said Hudson, when her coffee needed warming, she would say, "I need a little sunshine."

Part of Hudson's exhibit is a huge canvas of seven feet tall and 10 feet wide.

"She thoroughly enjoyed sitting by the window in the kitchen watching the squirrels," said Hudson, who included that memory within the various images on the canvas.

Also included is some of her own journaling of those final days.

"I'm just so moved by the three other artists' work and the love," said Sandin of the overall exhibit.

Hudson said that she hopes the exhibit will provide an opportunity for people to "connect," to remind them "to ask the difficult questions" before a loved one is gone, and "to embrace" times of challenge.

At Sunday's debut of the art exhibit, Sandin said that a table will be available for people to share photos or to write memories of their own mothers. She aims to share the materials in a September exhibit at the Washburn Historical Museum.

After Mother's Day, the art exhibit will continue to be on display until June 30 during DAP hours, Tuesday through Sunday, from noon to 4 p.m.