Madelin Coit is an American multi-disciplinary artist whose career began in the 1970s. In her work, Coit has produced numerous series across media, including sprayed-oil paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, installation, video projection, writing, performance, steel, neon, and shadow. Her work is in the collections of the State of New Mexico, the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

, the

Skirball Cultural Center The Skirball Cultural Center, founded in 1996, is a Jewish educational institution in Los Angeles, California. The center, named after philanthropist-couple Jack H. Skirball and Audrey Skirball-Kenis, features a museum with regularly changing e ...

in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe.

Early life and education

Coit graduated from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

in 1968 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 1971, she moved from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts to California to begin graduate coursework at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

Design School and to pursue her creative work.

Artwork

Coit works simultaneously in different media: drawing with graphite, engineered paper, reworked found objects, shadows, steel, neon, installation, performance and video. She explores physical and emotional perception, and the way understanding or feelings appear to be and then change. Through the different media she uses, there is continuity in aesthetic and intention. Coit has a history of working with language and signage, with many of her works taking the form of poetic messages. Two recurring themes are often in her works – One is the mystery of ''interface,'' the edge or the space that separates one thing or place from another, defining both sides. The other concept is that of ''

pentimento A pentimento (plural pentimenti), in painting, is "the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over". The word is , from the verb , meaning 'to repent'. Significance Pentimenti may show that ...

,'' a painting term about transparency, layering, and visual seepage. The resulting work is created through a process layered, aggregated, and deconstructed materials to form a whole, which can then be erased, built upon, torn down, and reconstructed.

Exhibitions

Coit's work was first featured in the 1970 group show titled 'Project 70' at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts. She then began exhibiting in the greater Los Angeles area in 1978. In 1986 her work was featured at Gallery Q in Tokyo, Japan in their show 'L.A. Art'. Her work has since been exhibited nationally at the Los Angeles County Museum, the Hammer Museum, the San Antonio Art Institute, The Whitney Center for the Arts, and the

Anchorage Museum The Anchorage Museum is a large art, history, ethnography, ecology and science museum located in a modern building in the heart of Anchorage, Alaska. It is dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art and history of Alaska. The mu ...

. In 2006 and 2012, Madelin received grants from

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

for professional development, and participated in a resulting exhibition at 516 ARTS in 2007. In New Mexico, she has shown work in Santa Fe at the

New Mexico Museum of Art The New Mexico Museum of Art is an art museum in Santa Fe governed by the state of New Mexico. It is one of four state-run museums in Santa Fe that are part of the Museum of New Mexico. It is located at 107 West Palace Avenue, one block off the ...

, the Center for Contemporary Arts,

SITE Santa Fe SITE Santa Fe (often referred to simply as SITE) is a nonprofit contemporary arts organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since its founding in 1995, SITE Santa Fe has presented 11 biennials, more than 90 contemporary art exhibitions, and w ...

, AXLE Contemporary, Gerald Peters Gallery, The Hardwood Art Center, and the now-closed Evo Gallery and James Kelly Contemporary.

Awards and honors

Madelin has been the recipient of artist residencies at Ucross, Jentel, Playa, and Hambidge. She currently sits on the board at SITE Santa Fe.

References

External links

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Living Juicy podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coit, Madelin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Connecticut alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American women artists