a socially-engaged artist, strategist, and learner
— Utah and New York-based, working at the intersection of ecological systems and civic engagement. Through participatory workshops, place-based research, and community programming, Mattie builds methodologies that foster embodied relationships among people and with the environments they share. Currently completing an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons, she bridges rural and urban contexts through qualitative research, workshop facilitation, and collaborative design — grounded in a justice lens and a commitment to making visible the entanglements among land, labor, and community care.Madeline taking over The Tea Stand in Maria Hernandez Park. FREE TEA FOR ALL!
If you have made it this far in your wander through the site, I applaud you, and in exchange for your sustained engagement with the pieces that make up my practice, let me tell you a little about what I am currently thinking about:
✶Deep material engagement, how do I continue sitting with something and learning from it when I feel its "functionality" has faded? I think as I live in a room filled with thousands of oyster shells from a past project, and pounds of wool from the current one.
✶Having a spiritual "community of practice" is more about finding those who are willing to think deeply about the potentials of spiritual connection than finding those who agree with me.
✶When using aesthetics to tell a story, the layering of sensory experience is just as important as the qualitative research. Journey mapping with my undergrads has made me realize that often no observation happens past how many people go in an out of a door.