Welcome!
Desert Mothers is an organization joining art instruction with a cause. Based in San Felipe on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, Desert Mothers engages some of the finest artists in the country to teach art and craft playshops. The tuition for these classes is used to sponsor instruction for a special group of women. These San Felipe women are mothers who had children at a young age and consequently were unable to finish their education. Many still live with parents and have minimal income with which to support themselves, let alone enrich their lives and get out on their own.
The first phase goal of Desert Mothers is to become a multi-level organization providing training in the many diverse art forms, then provide a local cooperative space from which to sell the work produced, while creating markets outside of San Felipe.
The second phase of Desert Mothers is to provide a safe and healthy environment for women and their children. This will be a community living space with support systems to help these women become productive citizens of San Felipe.
Desert Mothers was given birth because of the following ideas:
It is more beneficial to teach someone to provide for themselves than to live off charity and/or family.
We provide benefactors who attend our Art Playshops with the gift of learning the joys of art. These Playshops are taught by the best artists in Mexico. The profits from these classes help support our projects.
The paid participants in the Art Playshops work together with local women, as equals. This helps to build a bridge between the Mexican women and the foreign community. Nothing creates equality as quickly as struggling to learn something new together.
Providing this training to single mothers helps build their self-respect and encourages them to become involved in their communities.