On a chilly January morning at The Factory St. Pete, a crowd gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Museum of Motherhood. A row of strollers lined the hallway and children were at play in the space.
Museum founder Martha Joy Rose beamed as she called up her team of volunteers and board members before she cut the ribbon on the museum’s new Escape Womb Experience.
St. Pete Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Chris Steinocher led the ribbon cutting and remarked that the Museum of Motherhood was “a 20-year overnight success story.”
Indeed, it is. Rose, who goes by Joy, has been working towards her dream for a museum dedicated to the art, history and science of motherhood for decades.
In 1997, after a diagnosis of lupus, the mother of four formed the band Housewives on Prozac in New York, with the idea that women can still express themselves and have an identity post-motherhood.
In 2002, Rose created the MaMaPaLooZa Festival that showcased similar female bands. It spread to 25 cities and four countries and evolved to include academic conferences and exhibitions.
The movement built over time, with the opening of the MommyGirl GoGo store replete with the first display of “mom-or-a-bilia” in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Collaborators were joining the movement, leading to the establishment of the Motherhood Foundation.
Conferences happened and collectives were formed. A Motherhood Movement had taken fruition.
By 2011, the Museum of Motherhood was established. Rose held MoM popups in Manhattan; the largest one was sponsored by Gymboree and ran for 29 months.
Over time, the ideas for what a museum of motherhood would include became more clear. The field of mother’s studies also grew over that time, Rose said. In 2014, Rose got a master’s degree in Mother Studies and started teaching at Manhattan College, where she curated exhibits.
Rose moved to St. Petersburg in 2017 to be close to her children. In 2019, she created the non-profit MoM Art Annex at her home in Historic Kenwood. But then the pandemic hit, making it impossible to have visitors.
But when the pandemic subsided In 2023, things started moving. Rose’s bungalow was attracting guests as a source for research and hosted 178 tours of it over the year. Considering it the museum’s “coming out” year, Rose and her team began hosting garden parties and feminist pizza parties with her neighbors of the Artist Enclave of Historic Kenwood.
With MoM getting more exposure, it was time to secure a public space that wasn’t Rose’s home. She rented a space at The Factory St. Pete where the artwork element of the museum was on full display. People drawn there during Art Walk interacted and a community formed.
But when the building was sold last year, tenants shuffled around. MoM moved to a space on what’s now known as Gallery Row, next to FloridaRAMA. The museum shares its space with the artist Paul LeRoy Gehres, known as “LeRoy King of Art.”
Exhibits include a 20-pound pregnancy simulator vest, a display titled, “Call Your Mother” with a lip-shaped phone and a wall where visitors can write a message. There’s also a rotating selection of books guests can read.
Over the past couple of years, the museum’s network of volunteers grew and the museum established a board of directors. Rose is extremely effusive about her team, saying she couldn’t do it without them.
While the function of the museum is to be a center for education and exhibits “devoted to the art, science, and herstory of women, m/others, and families inclusive of all reproductive identities,” it has recently positioned itself as Tampa Bay’s “first and only women’s museum.”
But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s only for women and especially not just for mothers.
“The point is, we are all part of one big human family and we all come from a mother,” Rose said. “We’re really interested in that study of, both academically and arts wise, what these creators make. We also are interested in the people they make.”
The endgame is to eventually build a multi-level museum with floors dedicated to art, science, “herstory” and more. But first, fundraising needs to happen to pay the rent.
With a goal of $30,000, MoM is offering potential donors a place on the Founders Circle with a $1,000 donation. The campaign is called “We Build Tampa Bay.”
Another revenue stream is within the Escape Womb Experience, a red-hued room that combines artwork and scientific diagrams to explain the “nuances of conception, gestation and birth in a fun and informative environment.” Admission ranges $15-$28.
On March 18, the MoM is having an Art Auction fundraiser presented in partnership with Odeta Xheka’s OXH Gallery at The Spiral Staircase in Tampa. It will feature “Mother-Made” art pieces for sale.
The weekend prior to the fundraiser, on March 14-16 MoM is holding its annual Academic and Arts Conference at USF St. Pete. Scholars, artists and community members will share their thoughts on the theme, “Fun, Sex and Crying Out Loud.” For more information, visit mommuseum.org. •
