July 2016: Featured Artist

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Sculptor & Multi-media Artist :
Madeleine Segall-Marx

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Madeleine Segall-Marx has received more than 40 awards for sculpture, including ten Medals of Honor, as well as the 2006 Dutchess County Executive's Art Award to an Individual Artist. She teaches figurative sculpture and portraiture in clay. Her early work involved casting in bronze in Pietrasanta, Italy - she still maintains a studio there. She has completed three public works in New York City: The Children's Ride, a one-year installation in Greenwich Village for the Department of Parks (1995-1996), Celebration: The Richard Rothenberg Mathematics Wall (a sculptural wall for Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan (1999) and Stuyvesant High School’s Centennial Commemorative Wall (2004). Madeleine served as president of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) from 1999 to 2002. This is the oldest and largest organization for professional, female fine artists. She initiated several partnerships and programs between NAWA and humanitarian organizations. Madeleine works in bronze, clay and several other media. She divides her time between her studios in Manhattan, Hyde Park, NY, and Italy (for work in bronze). Her current exhibition: The Singing Bowl: voices of the enemy took ten years to create. She wanted to make visual artwork that has a message, rather than work that is simply the product of play between the artist and her material.

The Singing Bowl: voices of the enemy : Over a period of ten years, Madeleine collected 25 personal stories from people caught in war from around the globe (Africa, Middle East, Vietnam, Haiti, The Holocaust, and more) - voices of people who live, or have lived, in situations of armed conflict. With each new story she created one visual artwork (both two and three-dimensional pieces), resulting in the collection. Her interest was not to literally illustrate each story, but for each piece to be a visual reminder that there is a story to “listen” to.

Exhibition Photo: Hyde Park, NY

Exhibition Photo: Hyde Park, NY

The artist calls her project The Singing Bowl because singing bowls of Tibet produce many tones (or many voices) that build on one another in collective harmony. The 25 individuals who shared their personal stories for this project could have been anyone. They are quite random and varied.  Reading them exposes a common humanity.

Madeleine says, “Food is a silent thread throughout the works.” She chose a recipe from the culture of the storyteller, and something from this recipe appears in the work (not necessarily in an obvious way). Food was chosen to link the voices because it is a universal life element. The act of nourishing oneself along with one's loved ones is completely opposite of the act of being on the front lines and killing a person one does not know.

Along with the stories, Madeleine’s book contains full-page color photographs of each corresponding artwork, as well as recipes chosen from the cultures of each of the storytellers.

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Managing editor, Myrna Haskell, was invited for a personal tour of the phenomenal exhibition displayed in Hyde Park, NY. As Madeleine talked about each piece, she explained, “The art work is something I get out of my head in any way I choose. It’s not a literal representation of the story or the culture. Some pieces are more obtuse than others. This is because I want the viewer to think about each piece and contemplate it.”

Myrna asked her about how she feels now that the work is done. She responded, “It’s really not done. Until I can get more people in to experience it, I don’t feel that it is finished. You see, the exhibition isn’t complete unless the “listening” part happens. I want people to put themselves in the shoes of another.”

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Cambodia
Media: Terracotta, cement, wood, paper, wire, chain
Recipe: Amok Trei - Coconut fish curry parcels
© Madeleine Segall-Marx

El Salvador
Media: Wood, plaster, mixed media
Recipe: Atole de Elote - Sweet corn drink
© Madeleine Segall-Marx

Israel
Media: Iron, cement, cotton thread, stone, handmade paper, nails
Recipe: Ugat Sufganiot - Doughnut cake
© Madeleine Segall-Marx

Hungary (Holocaust Story)
Media: cloth, bark, stone, paper, acrylic on foam
Recipe: So'let - Hungarian-Jewish stew
© Madeleine Segall-Marx

Iran
Media: Handmade paper collage on canvas
Recipe: Shirin Polow - Iranian rice pilaf
© Madeleine Segall-Marx

Madeleine is currently in touch with several local schools to let them know that the exhibition is open to students. You may contact her at:
info@listeningtotheenemy.com



For more information about the exhibit:

France
Media: Acrylic with collage on canvas
Recipe: Coq au Vin - chicken with wine sauce
© Madeleine Segall-Marx

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In her Community:

The stunning bronze sculpture to the left is a piece which stands on the front lawn of Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck, NY. It is a dedication to Madeleine's mother, Beverly Lisan Segall, who spent time there. Inscribed on the back:

"It's about magic and wonder, newness and change. It's about surprise and challenge and what endures."