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Conference ‘09

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Conference 2009: Honored Educator: Martha Madigan

“My work is a direct experience of light and the fragility of life through the seasons. Nature is a great teacher. Nature always reminds me of the fullness and vitality of life as well as the death and decay that dwells within every living thing.”

Martha Madigan has been creating photograms of nature and the human figure for more than 25 years. Throughout her career, she has explored both the earliest light-sensitive processes and the latest digital techology, as she seeks to find “the essential truth in the teachings of nature; death and life as a continuum; the temporary nature of the body; and the struggle between human desire and spirutual evolution.”

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Madigan studied at UW Madison and earned her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been the recipient for the Leeway Grant for Excellence in Photography and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) Fellowship.

Her works are in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Currently, she is Chairperson of the Department of Photography of the Tyler School of Arts at Temple University.

Artist Statement

“My artistic career has been a delicate balance of creative studio activity with university teaching, administration, public art commissions, public speaking and exhibitions of my work. In addition to my responsibilities as professor, I have also served as curator of photography exhibitions at the Tyler School of Art/Temple University in Philadelphia since 1979.

“Since 1981 I am grateful for support in the form of grants from the following institutions: Illinois Arts Council (1978), Pennsylvania Council for the Arts (1981), Temple University Study leaves (1988–1989), and The Leeway Foundation (1996), to name some. For a complete list, please see my selected biography.

“During the past ten years I have been awarded the opportunity to create public art. My first major public work, Elements, installed in 1996, is on permanent view at the First Union Center Sports Complex in Philadelphia.

“I am currently working on a New York 1% for the arts public art commission for a three story glass wall for a new public elementary school, PS/IS499, in Queens, New York.

“My aim with public commissions is to create relevant, site appropriate, accessible works of art that carry a universal and healing message.

“The purpose of my art is to awaken the awareness within the viewer (as well as the artist) of the divine power that dwells within every living being. My gratitude expands with each passing year for the ability to freely live my life as an artist.

“The significance of this grant in my career at this juncture, would be the opportunity to devote my energy full time to the production of art, and to suspend my teaching responsibilities for one year.

“At age 53, I am at a critical stage in my development as an artist. The opportunity to TAKE TIME to digest 30 years of artmaking and to naturally listen to my own rhythms and voice as an artist, would be invaluable.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

— Martha Madigan

www.marthamadigan.com

Artist Information

Education

• 1978 — MFA-School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• 1976 — Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY (Summer)
• 1972–73 — Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (Graduate Studies)
• 1972 — BS in Art Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Teaching Experience

• 2006–present — Chairperson, Department of Photography, Tyler School of Art/Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
• 2004–06 — Professor, Temple University Rome, Italy
• 1989–04 — Chairperson, Department of Photography, Tyler School of Art/Temple University
• 1985–present — Professor (Tenure) Department of Graphic Arts and Design (Photography) Tyler School of Art/Temple University (hired in 1973 as Assistant Professor)
• 1979–85 — Assistant Professor, Department of Graphic Arts and Design (Photography) Tyler School of Art/Temple University
• 1983–84 — Chairperson, Department of Photography, Tyler School of Art, Temple University
• 1981 Sabbatical replacement for Carl Toth, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
• 1978–79 — Assistant Professor, Photography, Department of Art and Art History, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
• 1977–78 — Teaching Assistant, Part-time faculty, Photography, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (Non-Silver Processes and Beginning Photography)
• 1973–78 — Photography/Printmaking/Art Instructor, North Shore Country Day School, Winnetka, IL

Selected Grants & Awards

• 2003 — Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) Fellowship (Visual Arts – Photography)
• 1994–2002 — Artists Residency Fellowships, ASAP, Acadia, Mt. Desert Island, ME
• 1996 — Leeway Grant for Excellence in Photography, Leeway Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
• 1996 — Study Leave, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
• 1995 — Individual Artist's Fellowship, Pennsylvania Council for the Arts
• 1994 — Grant-in-Aid to Research, “Human Nature,” Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
• 1988-89 — Study Leave, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
• 1987 — Artist in Residence, The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Publications / Bibliography

• 2009 — “Tyler Professor’s work adorns Walnut Street window,” in Temple University News Communications, March 17 (color reproduction)
• 2008 — Faris Belt, Angela. The Elements of Photography: Understanding and Creating Sophisticated Images. Burlington, MA: Focal Press. (8 color reproductions pp. 208–211)
• 2008 — James, Christopher. The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, 2nd Ed. Clifton Park, New York: Delmar Cengage Learning. (color reproductions pp. 423, 430, 433)
• 2008 — Obarski, Susan. Blaze: Discourse on Art, Women, and Feminism. Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
• 2008 — Hirsch, Robert. Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age. Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press. (color reproduction, page 175)
• 2007 — Van Dongen, Susan. “Life Passages,” in Time Off, 12 October. (reproduction page 7)
• 2007 — Edwards, Kim. The Secrets of a Fire King. Camberwell, Victoria, Australia: Penguin Group. (color reproduction, front cover)
• 2007 — Blacklow, Laura. New Dimensions in Photo Processes: A Step-by-Step Manual in Alternative Photography, 4th Ed. Oxford, UK: Focal Press. (color reproduction, page 110)
• 2007 — Miller, Kate. Photography for the 21st Century. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning. (color reproduction, page 345)
• 2006 — Ag, vol. 45, Autumn, Surrey: UK. (color reproductions, pp. 27, 29, 30–31, 33, 35, 37, 39)
• 2006 —Martha Madigan: This World is Like a Garden in Bloom Only for a Few Days. With an essay by Ivo Bomba, Professor of Art History, Art Academy of Rome. Rome: Italy, Villa Poniatowski.