05/10/2026
This says it all!!!
“Portrait of the Artist as Mom, Nightmare Sequence” is a handmade teapot.
Ceramicist and arts educator Jean Nunez Donegan created this artwork for a self-portrait exhibition. At the time, her oldest was nine years old and her triplets were eight. She told a Louisiana newspaper, “Laundry was a constant in my life, and that, along with other demands, sometimes seemed overwhelming.”
Can’t quite make out the teapot shape? A rolled rug near the top of the laundry pile is the spout, and a pair of blue jeans forms the handle.
We see you, moms and mother figures. May your laundry baskets be empty and your hearts full.
🫖 : Jean Nunez Donegan, “Portrait of the Artist as Mom, Nightmare Sequence,” 1995, hand-built and low-fired whiteware with velvet underglazes, 12 7⁄8 x 9 1⁄8 x 6 1⁄4 in. (32.8 x 23.2 x 15.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery