Hi! I’m Maddy

I am a textile artist in every sense! I weave, embroider, cross-stitch, quilt, sew, but most importantly - I knit. Knitting is based in intricate repeating steps. This repetition is the basis for everything that I do, both in art and in life. The repetition of my medium holds a meditative aspect for me that verges into a type of prayer or manifestation. The sound of repeated action becomes a sound poem and the material that is made becomes the physical manifestation of this. My art takes this and directly comments on it. More specifically, I typically tend to break down phrases, prayers, words, or symbols into phonetic sounds or distortions as a way to experiment with this idea of ascribed meaning through repetition. I am trying to see how far you can take something from its original form until it loses its meaning or power. Or on the flip side, how far you can magnify things before they lose meaning or power.

These pieces usually manifest as tapestries, panels, swatches, blankets, sweaters, or installations. Through this, I seek to provoke a reflective consideration of the simple joys we derive from mundane repetition. I want to draw attention to things we often disregard and show the power they hold through sheer repetition and that alone. Why do we remember some things and not others – and what does it mean to be seen and remembered?

I try to blend my experience in craft with the more academicized world of fine art as both an homage to the women and artists who came before me who did not gain recognition for their work in craft and also to reference my background. My work is very rooted in my experiences growing up neurodivergent and these experiences are deeply enmeshed with craft and craft histories.