personal history
alison maddex
Alison Maddex, a Philadelphia suburbanite, is the chair of the Art Department at Upper Darby High School, where she also teaches photography and digital arts. In addition to being an art educator, she is an artist and an independent curator.
A Washington, D.C., native, Maddex lived on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands with her DOJ attorney father and newspaper reporter mother from 1972 to 1974. She continues to travel around the world and the United States, focusing her photography on architecture, especially midcentury modern examples. Many subjects, however, are merely starting points for her conceptual and surrealistic art.
Her relationships with artists and authors have been connections filled with interesting creative pursuits and adventures. Between those and her art and architecture-publisher mother, Diane Maddex, she has had some of the best arts and writing mentors.
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Alison Maddex has taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Shepherd University, and in suburban and urban public schools. She founded the In Time Art Salon, a gallery in Dupont Circle, and was the curator of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) Biennial Exhibition in 1995. Maddex has also curated or cocurated other exhibits in the Mid-Atlantic region, including at The Kitchen and the World Trade Center Liberty Street Gallery in New York City. In addition, she exhibited her large-scale photomontages in solo shows in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and at the Museu de Arte Moderna Cinemateca in Rio de Janiero.
Following a series of successful multimedia exhibits interweaving sexuality, art, and culture, Maddex co-founded NYC’s MoSex in the late 1990s. In 2002 she wrote Sex in the City: An Illustrated History (Rizzoli/Universe).
journey
education
1983-1987
BFA
Penn State University
Following in the footsteps of her high school mentor, Ray Wilkins, Maddex moved to State College, Pa., to pursue a BFA in Printmaking with an art history minor. She was enrolled in the University Scholars Program; received the Creative Achievement award, jurors awards for drawing and print, and the Golumbic Scholarship; and was graduated magna cum laude. One of her prints was purchased by the PSU Alumni Association, the first such student print purchase.
1988-1990
MFA
University of Pennsylvania
After a year in graduate school at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Maddex decided to work in a smaller department with more of an art history focus. Penn's admittance offer the prior year still stood. She studied with the master printmaker Hitoshi Nakazato and was a teaching assistant with a degree concentration in printmaking.
2009-2012
Art Education Certification
Moore College of Art and Design
While teaching in the Philadelphia School District on a provisional certification, Maddex restarted her art education certification process. Mentors at this stage were Deb Deery and Joyce Millman, both veteran urban educators. Her thesis exhibit was devoted to her Museum of Love project.
exhibition highlights
8th Regional Juried Photography Exhibition
Rehoboth Art League,
Rehoboth Beach, DE
2023
Annual Juried Photography Exhibition Media Arts Council, Media, PA
2022
Fruits of the Obsession
The Jacob Javits Convention Center
New York, NY
1999
Food, Fashion and Pheromones Museum Project, New York, NY
1998
Art, Design, and Barbie:The Evolution of a Cultural Icon
World Trade Center–Liberty Street Gallery
New York, NY
1995
F.A.T.:Form and Taste
Clark & Co. Gallery/MOCA
Washington, D.C.
1994
Inaugural Ball: Washington, D.C. Emerging Artists
Leavey Ballroom, Georgetown Univ.
Washington, D.C.
1993
Walk the Goddess Walk
District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC)
Washington, D.C.
1993
The Secret Surrealist Society In Time Art Salon
Washington, D.C.
1992
City Paper Photographers
In Time Art Salon
Washington, D.C.
1992
press
Check out these press selections and book information.
In Time Art Salon
I opened this cool art space in a historic carriage house in Washington's Dupont Circle.
Exhibits in Brazil
The Museu de Arte Moderna Cinemateca in Rio hosted my large photomontages.
Salon de Barbie:
A Multimedia Exhibition
This exciting exhibit and event in New York was full of big names and new talent.
MoSex, NYC
"Mild-mannered pair with a
very sexy plan."
This was a VIP project. .
WPA Biennial 1995: Superbia
I curated the Washington Project for the Arts' 1995 biennial exhibition.
Sex in the City:
An Illustrated History
My book—an arts and cultural history take on sex in the Big Apple—was published in 2002.