Announcing, the award-winning, photo-journalist exhibition, Return of the Corn Mothers, at the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad CO. now through May 31, 2024. The opening reception is on Dec. 1, 2023, 5:00 pm -8:00 pm. The Corn Mother project is being presented as a companion exhibition to the traveling exhibition Crossroads: Change in Rural America, on tour as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street (MoMS) project.
MoMS a Smithsonian Institution outreach program, engages small town audiences through their own local museums, historical societies and other cultural venues to create a revitalized interest in underserved rural communities nationwide. Partnering with state humanities councils the project brings traveling exhibitions, educational resources and programming to small towns across America. MoMS is designed to be a catalyst for conversation about life in small-town America and facilitate dialogue about the community’s history, culture, people, and sense of local pride.
The Corn Mother exhibition features sixty stories and portraits of modern unsung heroines from the South West. Award-winning photographer Todd Pierson has spent almost two decades photographing and interviewing women for the show.
Past featured Corn Mothers include: Stella Teller ( Isleta Pueblo potter), Rita Wallace( Denver-Mexican Folklorist), Ellen Alires- Trujillo ( Denver-Colorado Legal Services founder) ,Shirley Romero Otero(San Luis-Sangre de Cristo Land Grant activist), Norma Johnson( Boulder -Social Justice Storyteller/Poet), Marge Taniwaki ( Aurora -Japanese Internment Camp Survivor & Social Justice Advocate), Sandy Ortega( Alamos-Organic Farmer),Rita Martinez( Pueblo-Chicano Right Activist)
This project is in partnership with Corazon de Trinidad Creative District History Colorado and sponsored by AARP,MSU Denver Chicana/o Studies JTOH, the Chicano Humanities Arts Council and the Colorado Folk Arts Council.
To register for the Corn Mothers event in Trinidad Co. Please visit:
https://events.aarp.org/event/b92512f8-7f6c-4aa0-8a85-db45ed55cb43/summary?cn=D_JSpqqxSU2nJZjd&sms=7