The Journey of Giving Birth

Amy Swagman

2010-09-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

SEA LIFE

Thinking about my little fish swimming in the sea. With the vast, calming, rolling presence of the sea there are so many analogies to birth.

BUDDHIST "PRECIOUS HUMAN BIRTH" STORY

In Buddhism they have a story for their perception of “precious human birth.” Because being born a human being gives you the ability to do so much for your karma (both good and bad) it is seen as a precious opportunity to help your fellow man and possibly even attain enlightenment.

The story goes, imagine there is a turtle adrift at sea that only surfaces every 100 years. Now imagine there is a small ring in this vast sea. It is more likely for the turtle to accidentally poke its head through that ring than to be born a human being. I also incorporated vajras along the outside to signify wisdom and compassion (all important things to learn in this life) and lotus’. The lotus represents your Buddha nature. It rises from the mucky water and blooms pristine, reminding you that no matter what you inner nature, inner good, is always untarnished and that even people you have difficulty with have this good at their core.

Treasure the good work you can do with your life!

TREE OF LIFE

Many midwives think that the placenta looks like a tree of life. It’s interesting to think that every person on the face of the earth has been inside a mother, shared a placenta. I’ve been worried about my anemia lately and there’s something about how strong and vigorous the placenta is that appeals to me. The fact that a woman’s body is capable of growing an entire organ from scratch that nourishes another life and consists of so many nutrients, especially iron, is amazing to me!

You can find Amy's bio here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=12b04424da76bc1b&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D118ea3b94a%26view%3Datt%26th%3D12b04424da76bc1b%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dattd%26realattid%3Df_gdzf0j3z0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQvViBJeFSkpNbjp8zwC846Xfd_jA&pli=1

As well as more of her art here: http://themandalajourney.com/

You can also find her on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/mandalajourney

Michael and Paola Dias

2009-12-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

Water Dripping

Pregnant Earth

Fire

Embers

Michael and Paula Dias have started their own company centered around being able to creatively capture your own pregnancy.

"This all started once my wife and I found out we were pregnant. Her belly started to show a bit so we started drawing – trying to capture the moment and wanting to track how her belly grew and and changed over time. After we saw what beautiful forms were emerging, we wanted to share our discovery with every pregnant couple."

You can find their company at www.artbellies.com

Toni Rakestraw

2009-12-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

SLEEPING BOY

A pencil portrait of that precious moment when baby drifts off to dreamland after filling up on milk. The look of contentment always touched my heart.

LOVE

This came into being when I knew I wanted to create something special, but I wasn't sure just what it would be. I have seen many photos of this type, with the mother's hands forming a heart over the growing baby and that morning it seemed just perfect. I know that in all of my pregnancies, the feeling of baby moving and growing was treasured. I miss it now. This image seemed to reflect all that I felt when carrying my babies safely within. This is painted in acrylic on watercolor paper and was finished in about two hours.

Toni Rakestraw has been drawing most of her life, but didn't start taking it seriously until 2005. She prefers working with graphite or acrylic at this time, but loves to dabble with other mediums and styles when she has time. Her inspiration are her eight wonderful children, who remind her every day of how they changed her life for the better. Toni is a homebirth advocate and she and her husband run Organic Birth (http://organic-birth.com), both the website and the magazine. She writes for a living, but is trying to devote more time to her art. Commissions are accepted occasionally.

Emily Weaver Brown

2009-09-16T21:29:00.001-07:00

You can find the story of this birth at http://emilyweaverbrownphoto.com/blog/2009/09/birth-photography/home-birth-seattle-birth-photographer/

Emily Weaver Brown is a professional photographer serving Seattle and the greater Eastside.
Emily specializes in newborn, baby, child and maternity portraiture. Her fresh and contemporary
style captures the distinct personalities of her subjects. Emily works on location and at her Bothell WA studio.

You can find her online at http://www.emilyweaverbrownphoto.com/.

Tara Whitney

2009-08-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

You can find more of Tara's photos at http://www.tarawhitney.com/

Lori Nawyn

2009-03-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Moment in Time

When my children were babies I was very young, life itself seemed to caress eternity. Tomorrows were more than a breath away and each day blossomed with promise too often taken for granted. I never imagined how quickly little hands could grow, first playing pat-a-cake, then painting first-grade masterpieces, molding clay for high school sculptures, then, all too, soon waving goodbye to depart for lives of their own.

When my granddaughter, Abbie, was born I eagerly signed on for an opportunity to care for her. Knowing well how time transformed children , I wanted to freeze one moment of her babyness to hold in my heart forever.

Lori Nawyn is an author/artist who blogs about life at www.heartsandhands.blogspot.com.

Kelly Klem

2009-03-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

This photo was literally taken as she was born with umbilical cord still intact (placenta not yet delivered).

I love this photo because: what mother does not just totally cherish this special moment when you see your child for the very first time.

My adornable (no typo) children
inspire nearly all of my creations. I enjoy making things that are as practical as they are beautiful. At 47 I'm done having babies but I'm not done making beautiful children! My k

ids are 16, 12 and 3 (oops!). I have designed numerous knit/crochet patterns for Lion Brand Yarn Company, Caron International, been featured in Crafts and Crochet World magazines. I have sewn professionally for bridal and home decor. You can find some of Kelly's creations athttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=95259. She's got some cute stuff for babies and infants also.

Eugenia Algaze Garcia

2009-03-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

Expectations

In the year 2000, a year after my very pleasant home birth, I woke up one morning grateful that I had had options to fulfill my expectations and make informed decisions. I also knew that someone under a good midwife's supervision, would have had several "safe" backup plans which would lead to the calm feeling of the artwork - even though the subject is in labor with her significant oth

er on a sailboat with no wind to blow it. I just had to paint the image from my dream - at 4:30 in the morning!

The obviously pregnant woman in th

e artwork reprents that Birth is imminent and expected. All women have fears that expectations will not be met. Regardless of whether the "Expectations" become reality or not is not the point. I wanted to depict a calm and natural feeling for birth and its expectations, since the birth of a child is a natural process that has been occurring for thousands of years in a variety of situations.

The non-pregnant woman hidden in the artwork represents the "Expectations" of getting pregnant, as it took an entire year to get pregnant with our first child once we started trying and 6 months with our second child. The non-pregnant woman also represents the hopeful "Expectation" that once the baby is born, the body will return to normal.

The hidden turtle represents the "Expectation" of a slow process of developing the baby over a period of nine months as well as the "Expectation" that the Birth process in itself may be slow over several hours and not instantaneous. And of course, getting the body back in shape is also a very slow process that takes a turtle's determination to make it happen.

A Bothers Love

"A Brother's Love", © 2005 Eugenia Algaze Garcia, a pencil drawing of a pregnant mother (the artist 10 years ago) on the beach with her first born son. This artwork captures the loving feelings of a mother and her almost 4 year old son toward the unseen "face" of a sibling in Mom's tummy. The artwork also shows the "faces" of hidden symbolic companions dog, bear, alligator, and a busy mom running, which delves into the sometimes conflicting feelings felt toward an impending birth of a sibling. A "hidden" snail shape on Mom's tummy is the favorite creature of the now almost 10 year old child that was "hidden" in that same belly.

Information on prints available can be found at the following website:

http://www.mindful-art.com/EXPECTATIONs%20%202.htm#top

My birth stories can be found at:

http://www.mindful-art.com/EXPECTATIONs%20story.htm#top

From an early age Eugenia Algaze Garcia has been inspired to be creative. She is the daughter of cuban multicultural immigrant U.S. citizens who value education and hard work. Not realizing her talents and thinking that her passion for the arts would require a financial backing, she pursued a career path in accounting. She graduated with a B.B.A. from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She worked in public accounting and then in the private sector for a time, during which she received her CPA license from the State of Texas and earned an M.B.A. from University of Houston at Clear Lake. She married and had two children.

For over 35 years Eugenia fed her passion and taught herself to express her ideas while providing personal gifts to her family and a handful of friends in her spare time and with limited training, (including an Art 111 class from Texas A&M University in 1985 with Professor Robert Schiffhauer, a Painting I class by Nina Beall at Kingwood College in 1994, a couple of water color workshops by Carla Gauthier in the summer of 2002 at the Texas Arts Alliance Center

of Clear Lake, and various books from the Harris County Public library).

In first grade, Eugenia first became fascinated with shape recognition during a classroom hidden letter recognition art exercise. This, followed by many years of reading Highlights magazines in Dentist offices, sparked part of her art style. She has 2 aunts who are artists. Her art has also been influenced by psychology learned from her mother, who is a psychotherapist. In 2003, Eugenia decided to pursue art as a career.

Eugenia Algaze Garcia's paintings have exhibited internationally on-line, and locally, in various juried and non-juried exhibitions. Some of her artworks have won awards.

She is a member of The Galveston Art League, The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, the UHCL Art Association, the National Society of Artists, Artistas Del Mar, and Artists At Work (Adult Art League of KVPAC). In addition, she volunteers to teach a workshop through the "World of Art" program for the children at the Galveston Shriner's Burn Hospital.

Eugenia Algaze Garcia was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1965.

More information about the artist, her artworks can be found at www.mindful-art.com

Lorissa Longfellow

2009-03-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

Touch

Touch was taken of a mother and daughter. To me it exemplifies the bond between mother and child. Hand can express so much and this touch is the touch of love and trust.

A Part of Her

A Part of Her is a portrait of a mother and her 3 week old newborn. The way she is holding him so close reminded me of how newborns often seem like they are still so close and dependent on their mother. When my daughter was that little I had a hard time putting her down, it seemed like she was still a part of me.

Bond

A portrait of a mother breast feeding. It and Touch are some of the first photos of the series. It is so classic to me. Even though the child is about a year old, she still has a very strong bond with her mother and it is shown here by the way the child is reaching up and the mother smiles.

These are some of the most touching photos in the series, but I have been trying to photograph other emotions, both positive and not, all mothers go though. There are photos of encouragement, empathy, play, and more. Motherhood is something that can't be explained only experienced. Many mothers told me, when I got pregnant, that my world would change, but I couldn't even imagine how much it did. Just to start, the love you feel is like nothing else. In this series I hope to capture that experience in a way that words can not.

Larissa has been photographing her world since a family friend gave her a Kodak box camera and she learned to develop prints as a young child. In high school she purchased her first 35 mm SLR camera, learned to develop film, and experimented with a variety photographic of techniques. Later, in college she continued to experiment with art and photography, but concentrated on the history of art. Following college, she worked in the arts i

ncluding as a gallery director for a contemporary craft gallery. In late 2002 her future husband and her moved west and for the first time since college was able to focus on making her own art again.You can see more of her work atwww.ljdesignphoto.com

(Some of these photos are for sell, along with other photos taken by Larissa. If you are interested in purchasing any, click on the photo and it will link to where you can buy them.)

Erika Hastings

2009-03-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Peaceful Pregnancy

This is a watercolor painting that I created as a type of visual mantra that reminds me and brings me back to finding peacefulness and balance during my pregnancy. The actual process of painting is an important step in bringing this peace to my life, for it brings me back in touch with my creativity and my Creator. Of course, it's never quite what I expect. While I was working on this painting, I took a short lunch break and came back to find that my five year old daughter had "helped" me with my painting, drawing in permanent ink over the sketch I had created. This was a true test to find peacefulness and a creative solution to fix the problem. I calmed myself down and then made another quick sketch of the same painting for my daughter to draw and changed my drawing around to include some of her "help."

Ruhiyyih Khanum

Ruhiyyih Khanum was an important figure in the Baha'i Faith during her lifetime and strong and independent Canadian woman. She traveled to almost every country of the world bring messages of unity and peace. While I was traveling in Israel several years ago, I happened to be in her city at the time when she passed away. The beauty, love and inspiration that was shared during her funeral touched me so deeply that I felt inspired to paint her portrait. It took me several months to paint this acrylic painting on canvas because each time I would sit down to paint, I felt an overwhelming sense of her presence and it would often move me to tears.
(my side note...I wanted this picture, because when I saw it, I thought it personified what a mother is to me. When I read about who this women was, I feel like she definately held the traits of a mother, whether or not she had born children).

Erika Hastings graduated with a B.F.A., B. Ed, and M.A. with a research thesis entitled, "Creating Art as an Act of Prayer." She has a passion for the spiritually transforming power in art, creativity and motherhood and explores these topics on her blog athttp://mudspice.wordpress.com. Erika's art and writing have been published and exhibited internationally. She has worked as an art and foreign language teacher for over a decade in Canada, Mexico, Honduras and Brazil. She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada and is a full-time mother for her two (and very soon three) children.

Tamra Hyde

2009-03-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

Tamra Hyde is a custom portrait photographer working in Salt Lake City, UT. She has been an artist all of her life and to her, photography is just another medium. She uses natural light and prefers a relaxed photojournalistic style. She specializes in birth and wedding photography. She is drawn to peaceful birthing and two of her six children were born at home. You can find her work at www.modernexpressionsphoto.com and http://www.flickr.com/photos/modernexpressions/sets/72157601512169856/