Lawnsby, a Rose Garden mother of two young boys, has typically favored painting garden scenes and flowers using pastels and watercolors.

Cupertino resident Scherrer, mother of three, runs a small photography business specializing in artistic black-and-white portraits of pregnant women and newborns.

But with their new exhibit, "Got Breast Milk," which opened at the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center Dec. 30, the two are heading into potentially controversial territory—and they're more than willing to make the trip.

The exhibit, presenting photographs and paintings of nursing mothers, explores common conceptions about breast-feeding: among them, where it's appropriate to nurse and how long children should breast-feed before being weaned. The artists say one of their main goals with the exhibit is not only to unseat long-held biases but to normalize images of breast-feeding such that women can feel more at ease nursing their children in public.

"We're hoping to demystify breast-feeding so that it becomes more comfortable for people to see it taking place," says Lawnsby. "If people in general are less uncomfortable about it, then maybe mothers could feel more comfortable about nursing ... and maybe by seeing the beautiful imagery of breast-feeding, it can help nursing moms to feel more comfortable and resolute that this is a good thing to be doing if you can do it."

Lawnsby developed the idea for the exhibit after the birth of her first son four years ago, when she discovered that nursing her child in public tended to create a socially awkward situation.

"People were embarrassed and they would look away—you know, just visibly uncomfortable, and you can feel the tension is in the air," she says. "I felt very defensive and on the spot, because my baby's crying and the only way he's going to stop is if I feed him. I'm not going to go to the bathroom to feed him, where it's dirty. And it kind of, I guess, offended me that people would think it was inappropriate for me to feed my baby wherever I was."

Discussing the issue with other mothers, Lawnsby learned that she wasn't alone in her experience—and decided she wanted to make a statement.

She hired Scherrer to photograph her nursing her younger son, hoping to use the image as a basis for a self-portrait to include in the exhibit. Before long, Scherrer was on board herself as a contributor to the series. A doula—a woman who assists another woman during labor and provides support to her, the infant, and the family after childbirth—and student midwife, Scherrer says she had always supported breast-feeding for the widely cited medical benefits to mother and child. But after reading several media accounts of mothers asked to refrain from nursing in public, she also came to believe that there was a bias in mainstream U.S. society that needed to be addressed.

"I had thought that breast-feeding was benign," she says. "I didn't think it was a controversial issue until I saw the harassment that some women are getting today. ... I wanted to showcase and honor the communities that are honoring and supporting breast-feeding."

It was surprisingly easy to recruit models from among their friends, both say, and the women's stories came to serve as an inspiration. There was the mother who had had breast reduction surgery and was advised not to nurse but did it anyway, and succeeded. And the woman who had used a surrogate mother to have her child, but felt so strongly about breast-feeding that she took hormones in order to be able to nurse her child.

"The stories showed a commitment to get past the obstacles," says Scherrer.

Mina Harkey says modeling for Lawnsby was an easy decision.

"I loved breast-feeding," she says. "As crazy as having a baby is, as nuts and as tired as you get, when you're breast-feeding you're 100 percent focused on the baby, and it's a wonderful thing. ... I would just like to see more people be comfortable with it. I think if you're at a restaurant and your baby's hungry, you shouldn't have to think twice about breast-feeding your baby."

Balancing Scherrer's edgy black-and-white photographs with Lawnsby's flowing pastel images, the two opened their show at a San Francisco gallery several months ago. The exhibit at the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center will be the second stop for the show; eventually the two hope to take it national.

The show has already hit a nerve with one curator, who refused to exhibit a photograph that showed an older baby nursing without a shirt on. To hear the photo referred to as "child porn" brought home to Scherrer that the road ahead could be bumpy.

But both women say if controversy is what it takes to get people thinking about the issue, they're more than willing to take the chance.

"If controversy happens I'd be happy," Scherrer says. "It'd spotlight the issue even more."

"Got Breast Milk" exhibits at the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, 9341 Mill St., Ben Lomond, through Jan. 17. An opening reception will be held on Jan. 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information call 831.336.3513.