We didn’t realize how isolating being a parent could be. When we had our children, we looked around and wondered, where are our people? We didn’t hear discussions of motherhood among our creative and professional peers. So we decided to change that.
Katy Donoghue and Helen Toomer Co-Founded the Art Mamas Alliance in 2019.
Art Mamas was born out of a need to connect and a conviction that parenthood should not be hidden. There is strength in our visibility.
Katy Donoghue is a graduate of New York University's Journalism School and has been with Whitewall since 2006. As the Editor-in-Chief of Whitewall Magazine, Whitewall.art, and Whitewaller, she manages an international team of contributing writers and photographers and has profiled artists and creatives like Hiroshi Sugimoto, Cai Guo-Qiang, Lorna Simpson, Amy Sherald, Catherine Opie, Maria Grazia Chiuri, David Adjaye, Judy Chicago, among many others. In 2013, she helped to launch the print publication of Whitewall China in Beijing. She co-founded Art Mamas Alliance, a community of parents in the arts, in 2019. @katydonoghuehw
Katy is mom to 18-month-old Royal, a HUGE fan of trucks.
Helen Toomer is a recognized leader in the arts, with over fifteen years’ experience organizing events, exhibitions and residencies. She is dedicated to uplifting women in the arts.
Toomer is Co-Founder of STONELEAF RETREAT, an artists’ residency and connective space in the Catskill Mountains of New York focused on supporting women and families. She is the Founder of UPSTATE ART WEEKEND and the Co-Founder of Art Mamas Alliance. Formerly, Toomer was Executive Director of Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) and Director of the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair, Collective Design Fair and PULSE Contemporary Art Fairs. She lectures on art fairs and professional development at universities and arts organizations in the US and the UK and was an adjunct professor at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Toomer co-founded and managed a contemporary art gallery, toomer labzda in New York and graduated with Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Arts Institute of Bournemouth, England. She serves on the Board of AIRIE and Advisory Committees for ProjectArt, Foundwork and the Baxter St Camera Club of New York. @helentoomer
Helen is Harry’s Mummy. Harry is two and confused about what ‘proper football’ is.