I’ve been very fortunate to approach art-making from a place of emotional expression rather than technical skill. As a young person, I had stopped making art for years because of the pressure to make something that is “good”. It wasn’t until working in early childhood education that I relearned my love of freely expressing: a love for crying and splattering paint, a love for punching holes in giant pieces of paper, a love for making something that actually reflects me. I am a person who is messy and in constant existential crisis (it’s not just for teenagers!!) and I think my art accurately reflects that as I am constantly wrestling with trying to communicate who I am, who I was, and who I may be. Explaining myself through art is the most enjoyable losing battle I have ever been a part of.
My experiences with therapeutic art making and the wonders of play have led me to where I am today (as I type this out last minute on my computer): someone who feels incredibly congruent with their work. I get to spend my working hours with some of the most wonderful kids under our big, bright sun and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.
Artist Statement
A Hundred Faces: The Costume Workshop
One of the most difficult things about becoming a therapist is remembering how to be a human being when you are no longer being a therapist.
The versions of ourselves that we switch between - the things we become in the face of great strife and great joy, in mundanity, in disaster, in intimacy, in strangeness - protect us, destroy us, enhance us and diminish us. I’ve never worn more faces than I do now.
“When the music changes, so does the dance.” (A West African proverb to interpret as you wish)
fishMadison C.
mask 1Madison C.
mask 2Madison C.
mask 3Madison C.
My MovieMadison C.
ParanoiaMadison C.
