Kathleen Madigan

Symbolist artists said that 'everything in the real world is little more than a hieroglyphic of some transcendent idea', or, as Edgar Allan Poe put it: 'All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream'.

The intention behind the making of all of my art was to make the invisible world visible; while early work addressed invisible or hidden issues like domestic violence and incest among others, the overwhelming majority of the work points to another thing. Some of the earlier social justice pieces are in the Brooklyn Museum's online Feminist Artbase.

I work mostly with fabric because I love the texture and dimension, I use a lot of everyday items because I like to relate the ideas using a 'common alphabet' in a surprising way. I'm drawn to and inspired by all kinds of hieroglyphs, symbols, and even words-as-symbols . Where I've used my own or somebody else's words you can find the complete text on my website. I love Robert Rauschenberg's use of everyday objects, yard shows in the American South and their ties to African art and culture, collages of all kinds, especially Romare Bearden's, the paintings of Pedro Figari, and Jacob Lawrence's portrayals of working people.

I earned a Bachelor of Science in biology, dozed off ...

Museum Collections

Brooklyn Museum
Seven works were selected for inclusion in the Feminist Art Base

Solo Exhibitions:

Virginia Tech (VPI&SU) Hahn Garden Pavilion Gallery, Jan-Feb 2019

"Love Has Found You"
University of North Carolina
August- December, 2016

"Tales From Inside"
University of North Carolina
Wilmington, NC
March-Sept 2011

"Rebuilding"
Fresh Look Gallery
Nashville, Tennessee
2006

"Breaking Out"
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee
2005


Juried Exhibitions:

Halpert Biennial 2011--Third Prize for "Butterfly"
Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
Boone, NC
June-Dec 2011

I Have A Right
Picture Art Foundation
for "Cover Up"
California State University
Carson, CA

About Face
Annmarie Sculpture Garden
for "Woman Carrying Barracuda"
Solomons, MD
April -Sept 2011

Art From Found Objects
Monmouth Museum
for "Ankh"
Lincroft, New Jersey
2010

Women's Work
Ann Flack Boseman Gallery
for "A Woman's Work"
Wilmington, NC
2010

Feminist Interrogations
ARC Gallery
for "Let Me Show You The Door"
Chicago, Illinois
2008

Roots and Branches
Target Gallery
for "Flag Altar"
Alexandra, Virginia
2007

HerStory
Manhattan Arts International
for "Let Me Show You ...