As a white mother of white kids, I’ve worked to bring my learning about racism home, and in my position as the manager of Family Programs, I’m learning what kinds of changes an anti-racist art curriculum will bring to our art studios and galleries. I was thrilled to interview Jen Bloomer, of Radici Studios, one of the facilitators of the Museums’ family workshop series, Doing the Work Together: Becoming an Anti-Racist Family, to explore the scope of Bloomer’s anti-racist work and gain insights as a caregiver.
Ariana Bayer: You have taught all ages, from teens to toddlers, in classroom and community settings. What brought you to practicing anti-racism in your current art-making and teaching?
Jen Bloomer: As an artist who has painted, taught, and facilitated art in so many different communities around the world, I have always believed in the power of art to bring people together across differences. Fascinated in the science behind creativity, I completed my masters in expressive arts therapy and found so many applicable ways that the arts can be utilized outside of a typical therapeutic context to heal issues facing our communities. While I have always felt called to do work in the world that promotes equality, in becoming a mother to mixed-race kids, anti-racism work has taken a place at the forefront of my personal and professional life. It has felt necessary to ensure I am doing the ongoing work of understanding my own identity as a white woman so that I can better support my kids on their own journey with theirs. The 2016 election was a real wake-up call to me to dial up the work I had been doing. It motivated me to become more outspoken, action oriented, and focused in using my art, my network, and skills to specifically address racism.
