We had the good fortune of connecting with Maggie Stewart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maggie, what matters most to you?
The value of curiosity cannot be understated! Experimentation and curiosity keep your art and life growing and expanding! Listening to the clues is the key tool. Personal freedom is the goal. I work in multiple mediums and I continue to teach, both pursuits expose me to new ideas, solutions and influences. I emphasize inspiration and motivation, I play and investigate daily, and by putting my creative energy through that process the results and product are realized! It is definitely not the other way around.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am exceedingly proud that my company Mama’s Belly is 25 years old and it came from listening. I create bronze bowls from the cast of a pregnant women’s belly and tune them to ring like a Tibetan ringing bowl. That sound is specific to each mother and child and no two are the same. I am very proud of my unique and original idea. I create sacred heirlooms that each customer participates in creating. I send belly casting kits all over the world and each client casts their own belly then sends it back to me to be customized to their specifications and the result is a beautiful bronze vessel that is both functional and artistic. These bowls are 50/50 mother and child. They celebrate the strength and beauty of pregnancy. They celebrate the ultimate vessel.
This idea of mine has continued to grow and evolve, it took my husband clanging my first bronze bowl for me to realize the sound potential and now that is my favorite aspect. My goal is for someone to ring their Mama’s Belly bowl 200 years from now and say “Oh that is my great great grandmother!”
My idea certainly hit barriers, people just didn’t get it. This is now a positive quality for me because it either resonates with you or it doesn’t and that has created a very organic filter system, I don’t spend any time persuading customers, there isn’t any point.
I knew I wanted to create sacred art that had permanence. Bronze was my answer, it could be cast perfectly with out any distortion of the shape. This choice came from listening and putting together clues. I was raised in a home filled with Nambe, an amazing metal alloy created by the Nambe Native Americans in New Mexico, My family used and appreciated the beauty of its aging process as well as the functional and artistic side of it. Metal became the answer to my design.
When I first began, I cast clients myself which limited my possibilities so I created a belly casting kit and that open me up to everyone. I started casting the full pregnant figure because I got lost in its beauty. I realized this limited the heirloom quality I was trying to achieve. By focusing on the belly I took away a modesty factor and created a perfect 50/50 portrait of pregnancy. All of these adjustments to my idea came from listening and patiently allowing it to flow through me and develop.
It is very important to me that these bowls are signed Mama’s Belly and not Maggie Stewart.
I work with a crew of very talented people at my foundry that are at the core of my business. I have used a local Denver foundry, Joseph’s Artworks, for the life of my business and the skill level is incredible! I couldn’t in good conscience sign my name on collaborative work.
I have learned to listen and connect, small notions become big ideas, I nurture them by experimenting in my studio and trusting my experience. I actively pursue the unknown by leaning into my uncertainty and I thoroughly love this process!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would immediately book tickets for Nocturne and add jazz to our fun week. We would sample authentic Mexican food all week from El Tacos De Mexico to Mexico City Lounge and La Diabla. Next live theatre at the Buell or Elli Caukins theater. Head to Boulder for an afternoon at the BoulderTeahouse and a cuddle with goats at the Rocky Mountain goat farm, then hit the galleries in 40 West Arts district on the way home. Next go to the mountains with a stop at Red Rocks and up 285 to FairPlay and over Boreas Pass to see the epic scenery, and much less crowded the RMNP. Land in Breckenridge to pick up fly fishing gear and hit some great secret spots on the way to Marble CO. Hike the Yule Marble mine, and head to the Redstone Inn for an overnight. Heading back to Denver with fun stops all along the way including a ride up the Vail gondola to see the beauty of the Gore Range at the summit. Back into Denver for some well deserved sushi at Sushi Den and maybe a visit to the DAM, MCA and the Kirkland! Finally relax at Cap City Tavern to plan another awesome week in Colorado!!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband was the first person to recognize my need for a studio! We lived together before getting married and he carved out a studio space for me before I even asked! Throughout our 34 years together he has engineered and built multiple unique and imaginative tools to help my pursuits. We have even created entire shows together! I love nothing more than to brainstorm ideas with him and invent what we need. A perfect date is scavenging old buildings or junk yards together. He is my technical director, my personal engineer and my never ending support. He is the only person to ever recognize me immediately as an artist. I wouldn’t be where I am now without him!

Website: www.mamasbelly.com, www.maggiestewart.com

Instagram: mamasbelly1

Facebook: Mama’s Belly

Image Credits
All photography done by Maggie Stewart

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