MAEP Presents: Reflections on The Let Down Reflex

Join us for a thoughtful conversation about the complexities of parenting in the art world. Curator, scholar, and author Amber Berson will present her recent exhibition, “The Let Down Reflex.” A conversation with Shana Kaplow, MAEP panelist, will follow the presentation.

“The Let Down Reflex” attempts to recognize the complexities of parenting in the art world, and asks if a better alternative for families can exist. Calling out a slippage in today’s world, the curators summon a group of artist-parents to contribute to a springboard for re-imagining an art world where “Mom” is not a demeaning characterization, where childcare is factored in for participating artists at art spaces, and where artists aren’t forced to choose between home and work. The “let down reflex” references the involuntary reflex that causes nursing mothers to produce breast milk. The term takes on a double meaning in this exhibition, referring here to the reflexive tendency of letting down parents, and particularly mothers, within the flawed labor system of the art world.

Amber Berson is a writer, curator, and PhD student conducting doctoral research at Queen’s University on artist-run culture and feminist, utopian thinking.

Shana Kaplow is a visual artist living and working in St. Paul. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally at museums and galleries, including Mia, the TEDA Museum of Contemporary Art (Tianjin, China), the Asheville Museum of Art (N.C.), the Plains Art Museum (N.D.), and the Soap Factory (MN). She is a professor of painting and drawing at St. Cloud State University and an MAEP panelist.

This program is brought to you by the Department of Art, St Cloud State University’s Visiting Artists and Scholars program and Mia’s Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP).