Tuesday, March 24, 2009

New Mom, Circa 1974



Pregnant Self, 1973
Embroidered and painted quilt square

Pregnant Self (detail)





Martha Miller
Eben, with Reflected Self, 2003

Martha Miller
Eben from the Left, 1997


Thirty-five years ago at this time I was in labor, and it was a sunny, windy day, like today. I was just twenty years old, and about to become a new Mom. What a profound and happy day that was! Happy Birthday, Eben!!! xxxooo

7 comments:

artslice said...

Great photos! Happy birthday to Eben! Ever since I've had my kids (5 yrs now) I've realized their birthdays are really a shared celebration... better than my own birthday.
Your pregnant self reminds me of a large painting downstairs I haven't finished... (I didn't do my head). Gotta finish it sometime!

TERI REES WANG said...

Gosh! ..you both were just so tiny.
Love the evolution of you very own Family-Art-History.

Susan Beauchemin said...

Thirty five years ago today, Mom was so excited about you having a baby--she was fixing tea for--I'm not sure who, but I was there and I think Debby--we're in the kitchen and Mom was talking a mile a minute, all happy--getting out the teapot--reaching for the tea bags she kept in the wooden container--not looking but talking--until we all realized she had filled the entire pot up to the brim with tea bags! Oh man we laughed hard over that!

martha miller said...

hi brenda!

i'd like to see that painting - with your head!
you remain mysterious - we've only seen you behind those shades!
perhaps now that you've been doing a bunch of ladies' heads, perhaps you could finish your self-portrait with ease...

martha miller said...

perhaps? didn't mean to type that twice...

martha miller said...

hi teri

yes, we were tiny. i was very thin as a girl and as a young woman, and eben was my smallest baby, weighing in at 6 lb, 12 oz. My other 4 babies weighed between 8.5 and 8.12 lbs! BIG difference.
yes, i've made alot of art about my kids - i really need to get on the stick now and do portraits of my grandkids!

Ellie said...

Hi Martha, Congratulations on your first son birthday, like Artslice said, it must be a shared celebration, I dont have kids but I can see how it is. yesterday was my goodmother´s birthday too, in general march its a month when a lot my family members were born.Mom, grandma, sister, aunt and one uncle. Its a good month to born I think. Well, take care. XOxo