2021 Senior Exhibition Artists 2021 Senior Exhibition Artists: Madison Colby

About Madison Colby

Madison Colby is a Jewelry artist from Southern New Hampshire. She first began making jewelry as a child, selling her work at a local farmers market between the ages of 12-16. Her joy and love of jewelry was sparked through her involvement in a local bead store and group of artists located at the Riverview Mill in Wilton, NH. Madison spent two years studying jewelry at MassArt in Boston, before transferring to complete her BFA at Umass Dartmouth. Madison is also minoring in Art History and her work draws on personal experience and memory along with the role of shared histories. Her work especially focuses on the value of women and concepts based in feminist theory.  

Statement

My body of work focuses on the constructions of value surrounding women historically and contemporarily. It aims to reclaim the messaging of some of those histories in a way that empowers both the wearer and the audience. In searching to achieve this, my work uses imagery heavily associated with women at large and on a deeply personal level. In each of our lives we have countless stories about the ways in which the women around us have impacted us, from our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, teachers, friends, and so many more. And in saying impact, I mean something as simple as always being given a Dixie cup of goldfish and ginger ale when visiting your grandmother. There is so much power imbued in these stories and memories, as well as great value that we might not take the time to realize it. In works like 37 Hours & 2,500 Feet, I challenge the associations one may have surrounding “craft”, which is traditionally associated with women, as being something simple like a crocheted granny square. Yet, the piece demonstrates that it can be art. Everything we interact with daily has labor involved in it—often the labor of women. Pieces like Dirty Dishes ask the viewer to evaluate their own expectations of an object, such as the pearl necklace, in the context of the female body.

In exploring these serious and important topics in my work, I still seek to create jewelry that ignites the viewers spark of fun. My work is colorful and relies on the blending of glass and metal to create stills of the aforementioned moments. Bright and playful, I hope my work invites you to recall and share your own stories.

Contact

Email: mecrafts@hotmail.com
@colby_madison.works