Artist Statement
Tumbleweeds are my muse. Everywhere I look I see tumbleweeds – at the beach, in the mountains, on the trail. I bring them home and put them on pedestals. They are very symbolic to me. Rolling on their merry way, or brutal way, tossed about by the wind and water. A semi-tangled mess that mirrors my inner world.. to one person a mess, to me a massive amount of beauty and order in the disorder.
Urban walls and ancient eroded surfaces are the foundation to my paintings. I've been photographing since the '80s - New York, San Francisco, LA - the raw urban presence is under my skin. Like those walls, my paintings become rich with history, secrets, and stories that are worn by life.
Many of my paintings combine urban with nature. Tumbleweeds both large and small roll across the walls of concrete, blasted by the winds, not knowing where they are going but completely accepting of their journey. Maybe they are just enjoying the ride.
Urban walls and ancient eroded surfaces are the foundation to my paintings. I've been photographing since the '80s - New York, San Francisco, LA - the raw urban presence is under my skin. Like those walls, my paintings become rich with history, secrets, and stories that are worn by life.
Many of my paintings combine urban with nature. Tumbleweeds both large and small roll across the walls of concrete, blasted by the winds, not knowing where they are going but completely accepting of their journey. Maybe they are just enjoying the ride.
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Experience
As a professional artist for 30 years, Madeline has extensive art experience. She has worked in galleries, framed art, hung shows, shipped work, created postcards, traveled and photographed gorgeous old walls and vibrant urban walls popping with energy and color. She has wrangled tumbleweeds and brought them home to her studio. She has filled boatloads of journals with her art musings, struggles, joys, everything in life that gets pulled into a painting, under the layers. And has collectors both private and corporate across the U.S.
From all of this experience, Madeline has developed a “reductionist” approach by building up complicated layers, writing and inscribing, and then slowly "reducing" the extraneous to get to the final surface. She finds beauty in imperfections and awkward mark making, finding a delicate balance between control and freeflow, allowing the story to unfold while editing the surface until only the most important essence remains. Madeline’s art education is a hybrid of formal training, self-study, and participation in workshops. Madeline has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Eastern University in St. Davids, PA. She received a merit scholarship at The Chicago Art Institute where she studied in 1997. Madeline taught Abstract Layering Techniques workshops from 2016-2020. She currently works from her studio in Santa Barbara, CA. |
left to right: Tom Peck sculpture; my white tumble series (Flying Tumbles 40x40, White Tumble #1-3 24x24" mixed media on canvas)
at 10 West Gallery through Mar 2023
at 10 West Gallery through Mar 2023
Representation
10 West Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA since 2016
Artful Sol Gallery, Vail, CO since 2009
Membership
The Abstract10 in Santa Barbara, CA 2010-2020