Cindy Stockton Moore: Artist Mother

Cindy Stockton Moore is a patient and kind mother to two little ones. She is an accomplished artist whose work revolves around themes of nature and impermanence. Her thoughtful works of art are imbedded in research and result in provocative imagery across media. Her work presents a dichotomy for the viewer, informed and wondering, illuminated yet curious.

 

Cindy is an Artist Mother.  Artist Mother is a new project, a series of portraits and text exploring the nature of modern-day motherhood. Through this project, I hope to explore how one entertains both identities. Is there is a way, from a variety of different examples of motherhood and art making, to tease out and discover the answer? I’ve been pondering this for the past 10 years, since the moment I found out I was pregnant. Artist Mother is primarily a personal endeavor, a new iteration of an ongoing personal quest to find balance in all of life’s responsibilities.

 

My goal with this project is to collaborate with thoughtful, artistic, inspiring women and share their stories; stories of living, working, and being a Philadelphian as an Artist Mother. This city has captured my imagination from the moment I set foot here over 20 years ago. Philadelphia allows Cindy Stockton Moore to be an Artist Mother.  As a multi-disciplined artist, mother, and educator, Cindy has found more space in Philadelphia to house her children and inspire her work, compared to her previous home in New York City. The aesthetics of Philadelphia appeal to Cindy. It has easy access to nature and unornamented places like the Wissahickon and John Heinz Wildlife Refuge, allowing Cindy to traverse nature as she seeks to find new ways to produce raw materials, like ink from invasive plant species. Cindy is my first “case study” and an ideal example of finding a clear path to navigating motherhood and still producing compelling works of art.

 

Cindy Stockton Moore is a working Artist Mother. She holds an MFA in Painting from Syracuse University. Her work is inspired by nature, fueled by research, and is often site-specific. Glen Foerd is a historic estate on the Delaware River where you can experience Cindy’s art. A transformation takes place in the bedroom of the last resident, Florence Foerderer Tonner. Cindy’s striking large-scale, jewel-tone, organic paintings of the property’s one-hundred-year-old Cucumber Magnolia tree are nestled in the moldings, transforming the space and acting as wallpaper that was ever present. The room is reimagined and organized to be a jewelry box of historic relics.

 

This concept of transformation informs my thinking about the Artist Mother. How we transform our bodies, later our schedules, and ultimately building a life that works. Cindy has built her life through an egalitarian partnership with her husband and a clearly mapped schedule. She wakes early for studio time and has a keen understanding of what she can and cannot accomplish in the company of her children. She often reads and conducts research with her kids, in order to model a mother with interests, ideas, and goals of her own, separate from them. Exemplifying, how to respect the ideas, feeling, and aspirations of others. Even if the “other” is your mother.

 

To learn more about Cindy and her work, please, visit her website:

www.cindystocktonmoore.com