F. Scott Hess

Mothers on the Mount is 5 p.m. in my Hours of the Day. It was inspired by the women who ran the co-op preschool my daughters attended. The general meetings were excruciating for me, and probably for most of the other males present. The women were clearly in charge, but these gatherings allowed each to speak ad infinitum, no matter how off topic. I had the feeling men would have finished the business at hand much more efficiently and then run home to watch football. There seemed to be a different mode of operation here. The women were strengthening their interconnections, respecting each members opinion and building the network that was the real glue of the co-op. Ultimately, the children benefited greatly from this structured, communal embrace, and in this painting I wished to acknowledge the wisdom of this maternal method. The central mother with the tray is our friend Valerie (a real power at the preschool), who posed for me along with her two daughters. She turns her head to communicate with the person whose hand comes in lower left, holding a set of keys.