Today we’d like to introduce you to Maddie Aunger.
Hi, Maddie. I’m so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Hello, my name is Maddie Aunger. I am a painter and arts educator living in St. Louis, Missouri. From a young age, I have always been interested in art. Both of my parents had creative hobbies throughout my childhood, and they consistently encouraged me to pursue my interests. I alternated between wanting to be an artist or a teacher when I was little. In college, I went down the art education path. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Science in Art Education, and a minor in Art History from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2017/2018. In my final semester at SIUE, when I was making a series of paintings for my BFA show, I realized I enjoyed focusing almost exclusively on creating art. I became motivated to prioritize my artistic practice outside of being a teacher. The following year, I moved to Nebraska to attend graduate school, and in 2022, I received my Master of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Those three years in Nebraska were paramount to my growth as an artist. Following graduation, I moved back home to St. Louis. I was briefly an adjunct instructor at my alma mater, SIUE, and in the summer of 2023, I became the Education Coordinator at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. I’ve been working at STLAG for a little over a year now, and I enjoy it.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been very fortunate so far in life. I’ve had a few supportive teachers, professors, and mentors who’ve helped me find opportunities throughout my academic and professional careers thus far. Because of that, I hope to be a resource for others. As creatives, we all know that art and academic spaces can be challenging to break into, so it is essential that we support each other and share knowledge and opportunities. We all struggle at one time or another to find our voice as artists. During my first year of graduate school, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to make work about. I knew the qualities I was excited about in my paintings, but figuring out the “why” was more arduous. Oddly enough, the pandemic is what pushed me to sort that out. When we all got sent home and were creating art in our living rooms and basements, something clicked for me. The series of paintings I made in those first few months pushed me in the direction that led my work to where it is today.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a painter with a strong sense of light, color, and craftsmanship. My paintings are quiet, crisp, orderly, and controlled representations of places around my home, executed in acrylic panels on an intimate scale. My paintings are of windows, siding, doors, and fences. I focus specifically on my house and the spaces I interact with regularly. This narrow scope allows me to dig into my perception of the light and color I experience daily living in the home. The rigidity of the subject matter also lends itself well to the precision I enjoy aiming for in my work. My paintings walk the line between expressing sensation and capturing the everyday. They are heightened and idealized while maintaining a balanced intensity of color. I want the pieces to have a unique twist without being removed too far from reality. These compositional and design changes extend the brevity of the moment and hold the viewer in the second before you snap back into seeing every detail. My work can encourage viewers to find quiet moments in their lives and spend more time appreciating them.
What are your plans for the future?
I just had my first solo show outside of graduate school, which was very exciting. The exhibition included work I made while living in Lincoln, Nebraska, and more recent work I’ve made since moving back to St. Louis. It was beautiful to share slightly older work with the community I was away from for a while. For a few years, I exclusively made paintings of my house in Lincoln. Now that I’m back home in St. Louis, I’ve shifted my focus to my house here. Approaching a familiar space with a new perspective has been refreshing. I hope to share this new work at more solo exhibitions in the future!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maddieaunger.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddie.aunger/
