Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline K Barry.
Madeline, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m so glad to be here! I was raised in Greenville, SC, but I often came to Atlanta for concerts or cheap flights. I never dreamt I would call Atlanta “home”. I had dreams, instead of traveling the world, living in places that felt as foreign as the language sounded.
I grew up in awe of my mother’s craft closet, knee-deep in “How To Draw” books from the school library, but the thought of becoming an artist never crossed my mind. I started a non-profit in Greenville as a high school student, which played into my passion for corporate event coordinating. At age 19, I made the decision to pursue my dreams of living in Europe and made plans to move to Belgium to work in the non-profit world as an event planner for an international artists’ collective. I sold everything I owned and settled in a village outside of Brussels in 2018. It wasn’t until I arrived for my first day of work at the non-profit that I realized there had been a grave miscommunication and that there was no “event coordinator” position available in the organization. They were under the impression that I would be working as a full-time artist as a member of the collective. I had put all my eggs in this Belgian basket, so I jumped in headfirst. I asked a team member to mentor me, began taking classes at a local art school, and found a studio space I loved.
After two years of classes, exhibitions, and live painting, I was forced to leave Belgium due to changes in local immigration laws. I relocated to Atlanta simply because Greenville felt too small. I painted as a therapy to recover from the move, which was quite heartbreaking. I released my first collection of work a few months after moving to Atlanta, and without totally realizing what that meant, started my own business. I now work full-time as a commission artist, live event painter, and muralist in Southwest Atlanta, and feel so privileged to do what I never knew I wanted to, but now love so deeply.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it was a smooth road, since it involved moving 7 times in 3 years to follow this dream. The other big struggle for me has been navigating a career that has no manual. As is true of many careers, the art world is constantly evolving. It is vastly different between countries, cultures, and subcultures. Expectations change weekly, and it is a full-time job to simply run the business side of an art career. To learn sales tactics and business administration while simultaneously striving to find your artistic voice is an undertaking that requires a willingness to ask questions, fail, and try again for years on end.
Another large struggle I am working to overcome is my strict Christian upbringing. I still attribute my creativity to God, but I have had to work tirelessly to overcome the teaching that one must work in the Church to be important or make changes in society. This was taught to me for years on end, and it has taken years of therapy, strong guidance, and role models to bring me to the point of realizing I am most effective as I live abundantly and share my art with my community.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Of course! I have been honing my skills in mixed media abstract portraiture since 2016, working primarily with palette knives on canvas. I explore the theme of personal hope as it relates to negative and positive human experience, often zeroing in on the feminine perspective. I invite the viewer to ponder life from an individual human’s point of view – a perspective contrasting one’s own.
I start each painting with a distinct message in mind. Often this message will be written in white pastel underneath the painting so that as the water-based paint is brushed over top, pieces of this “word” show through. My messages almost always pertain to the power of hope, living in a world that constantly disappoints. These messages are directed primarily to women in an effort to spur on each other on to be in-tune with their own divinity and the strength that comes from being a woman at peace.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
It’s hard to say, but I think resilience is possibly the most important to the success of an artist. There is a specific type of grit needed to enter the studio day after day, create, pour your heart into what you are doing, then release it to the world without knowing how they will respond. It often hurts, but I love it.
Pricing:
- Custom Commissions: 11×14″ $220, 16×16″ $380, 16×20″ $420, 20×20″ $480, 24×24″ $520, 30×30″ $900, 36×36″ $1250
- Live Event Painting pricing available upon request. See website for details
Contact Info:
- Email: m@madelinekbarry.com
- Website: www.madelinekbarry.com
- Instagram: @madelinekbarry
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/madelinekbarryfineart
Image Credits
Kelsey Butcher Photo
