In this two-part program presented in collaboration with the University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center and the Poetry Foundation, explore the concept of motherhood through contemporary art, medical and anatomical publications, and poetry.

FREE. Participants have the option to attend one or both sessions. Space may be limited, please register in advance.

Presented by the Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago Library's Special Collections Research Center, and the Poetry Foundation.

For Part II, we will reconvene at the Poetry Foundation for a special Forms & Features poetry workshop and discussion of the question of motherhood as both a hindrance and boon to artistic and poetic production. The evening also features a poetry-writing exercise and readings of poems about mothers by Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and others.

Part I: takes place on Thursday April 11, 6-8pm

Image: Spiegel, detail of De formato foetu liber singularis aeneis figuris exornatus, [1626]. alc fQM21.S672 1627 Rare. Special Collections Research Center, The University of Chicago Library.