On 11 February, Stryx Gallery will open Mothership, an exciting new exhibition of contemporary art by 12 artist-mothers. It takes its title from the ground-breaking residency which the women recently completed at the Birmingham-based gallery.

With a pioneering wrap-around model, the ‘Mothership’ residency was designed specifically for mother creatives with pre-school children (aged 0-5). The successful artists, all based in the Midlands, were each given free studio space, a bursary and on-site childcare at Stryx for a period of 4 months.

Behind this program are Stryx’s two Co-Directors who are artist-mothers themselves, Anna Katarzyna Domejko and Karolina Korupczynska. They have said: “Mothership is connected to the core of what we stand for at Stryx, a female-led space to sustain the careers of Midlands-based artists.

"The Mothership residency felt needed and wanted. It was the most natural thing to use our space to facilitate support that would have helped us as mothers of small children. It grew out of our personal experience of working with babies on the floor.

"Working with children in art is an unstable career that requires specific circumstances. To create, you need space to think. Quite a lot of women stop their practice after having children, and this residency was the first step back for some of them.

"The loneliness of motherhood is also significant and isolates women from other art professionals. We wanted to create professional networking in a supportive environment.

"Integrated provision like this just doesn’t exist in our region. There are only 2 other similar programmes, with Mother House Studios in London and Spilt Milk Gallery CIC in Scotland, but nothing in between. We have high hopes that our Mothership studio and residency will become something that this city (and the country) needs.”

Responding to the practical needs of artist-mothers, the Directors designed a wrap-around model that offers a package of support for participants to pick and choose from. It builds, in part, on their previous work as a hub for Mothers Who Make, a peer support group offering creative sessions for artists-mothers.

Initially, Stryx planned to support just 4 women through this residency. However, they were overwhelmed by the response to their open call and, receiving 14 high quality applications, decided to increase the studio bursary and divide the cash bursary across 12 diverse applicants:

“It proved clearly the need for this type of opportunity. The level of excitement, professionalism, talent and thought put into the applications was astonishing.”

The 12 artists are: Charlotte Bailey, Emma Bowen, Faye Robinson, Gayatri Pasricha, Izzy Dogliani, Jo Essen, Lucy Bowser, Maisie Violet Rees, Natalie Mason, Natalie Zervou, Sevonah Golabi and Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak.

Together, the women have worked in a purpose-built Mothership studio, which includes a children’s creative play area, wall and desk space in an open plan set up. This vision for Mothership’s space was made possible thanks to SPF, Innovate UK and Arts Council England funding. It enabled Stryx to refurbish an upstairs space that, having been abandoned for 30 years, had become home to pigeons, spiders, cobwebs and rats. Over several months, they employed 3 companies to work full-time on the renovations, which included putting in new beams, flooring, a staircase and a safety gate – completely transforming the space into a big, beautiful studio for the artist-mothers and their children to arrive.

The funding also allowed Stryx to hire 2 professional playworkers who have planned the play sessions  on site. Following consultations and mentoring from specialists, they adopted a radical, creative approach to the childcare. The Directors have explained: “Women don’t simply hand over their children and that was important to us – that this provision isn’t about just providing space for play, it’s a relational and fluid space where children are creatively engaged. We wanted to make sure this space is what the artist-mothers would want it to be, not just our vision.”

The fully trained childcare professionals, Abioloa Graham and Ela Byrne, are also linked to artistic practice themselves, which was important to both Directors.

Having started the residency in October 2024, the artists have not only worked alongside one another in the studio and connected with the child carers but engaged in monthly group crits, allowing them to get back into the routine of talking about their practice, which can be intimidating after taking a break.

The impact on participants has been huge. While the women have re-connected with their practice and the art world, connections have formed between the studio holders, too.

With the pilot coming to an end, Stryx has 12 spaces for 12 mother-artists who can apply by for the next residency by emailing info@stryxgallery.org