Today we’d like to introduce you to Keith Maddy.
Keith, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Always have been a creative person from childhood. Pursued theater in high school and college taking me all the way to London for studies and ultimately returning to the Boston area and applying to Massachusetts College of Art where I received a BFA w/distinction in 1994. Since then I have continued to work various jobs in retail management, including the Artful Hand Gallery in Boston, restaurant/catering work, 2010 US Census and now am a licensed massage therapist the whole time maintaining an art studio first at Vernon Street in Somerville and now at the historic Fenway Studios in Boston pursuing my own creative and unique art…..
In 2017 I was a grant recipient from the Artist’s Resource Trust, as well as several Massachusetts Cultural Council visual arts grants, most recently a 2016 Finalist award in Drawing & Printmaking, and recognized by the International Art Critics Association. I have exhibited extensively in the greater Boston area, throughout New England and is in private collections globally including Fidelity and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I am represented at the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston and published in MAKING THE CUT Vol. 1 The World’s Best Collage Artists by Crooks Creative Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, 2017, kolaj Magazine #17, 2016, 100 Boston Artists by Schiffer Publishing, 2013, Mixed Media Collage by Quarry Books, 2007 and Interweave Press’ publication, Cloth Paper Scissors, Issue 51, Nov/Dec 2013.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a mixed media artist currently working exclusively with cut paper/collage, exploring this medium as a form of drawing, painting and even poetry/story telling. In our technologically driven age where so much is digitally created and manipulated, I meticulously hand cut source material from vintage children’s books, as well as others, selected for specific colors, line quality, paper and sometimes content. The simplicity, purity and directness of cutting, pasting and layering is slow moving, immensely gratifying and results in the creation of fluid, complex imagery that is at once still and full of motion. There is a nostalgic comfort for me collecting and using vintage materials to recycle, repurpose and reconfigure for contemporary works on paper, combining the past with the present.
My inspiration is the materials themselves, their color, line, imagery and the essence of nostalgia. What I hope people take away from it is a sense of joy, playfulness but also craftsmanship, detail, layering, precision and the purity of work w/out manipulation.
The sterotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
It’s an ongoing challenge and most artists I know juggle full or part time jobs w/their art work as a part time career. I recommend take advantage of any opportunities to show your work, sell your work and do not be discouraged…. do what you love.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Howard Yezerski Gallery.
Schedule a studio visit.
http://www.fenwaystudios.org/artists/keith_maddy.php
https://www.facebook.com/keithmaddyART
www.keithmaddy.com (to be updated soon!)
Fenway Open Studios, November 10 & 11, 2018
Contact Info:
- Address: Fenway Studios
33 Ipswich St., Studio 109
Boston, MA 02215 - Website: www.keithmaddy.com
- Email: Keith.maddy@comcast.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keithmaddyART
- Other: http://www.fenwaystudios.org/artists/keith_maddy.php
Image Credit:
Dorian Color Lab
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