Artist Statement
My sculpture uses second-hand and repurposed materials like home fixtures, fibers, pipes, steel, and other industrial remnants to explore how systems of waste and labor shape our forms of connection. I view social and physical waste as both conceptually and materially generative, revealing how discarded materials can articulate the values and failures of the systems that produced them. By working with materials tied to infrastructures like plumbing and architecture, I investigate how these systems mirror the human body, each a porous network that leaks, circulates, and transforms energy. The boundaries between our bodies, buildings, and ideas are not fixed but permeable, constantly shifting through processes of decay and renewal. My practice seeks to make visible this permeability as the way energy and matter pass between us and our environments. In acknowledging waste as both byproduct and conduit, I aim to reframe it as a connective tissue, evidence of our shared vulnerability and interdependence within the social and physical systems we inhabit.
Bio
Maddie Jones Rodriguez is an artist living and working in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated with her MFA in fiber and material studies from Tyler School of Art & Architecture in the spring of 2025 and her BFA in painting from Texas State University in San Marcos Texas. Her current sculptural practice explores the creation of objects that subvert function and propose new avenues of connection. Rodriguez has worked across art and community as an educator and studio assistant while building her personal practice.
CV
Madeline Rodriguez
maddiejonesrodriguez.com
rodriguez.maddie@gmail.com
Education
2025 MFA, Tyler School of Art & Arch., Fiber and Material studies Philadelphia, PA
2021 BFA, Texas State University, Painting San Marcos, TX
Solo Exhibitions
2025 there’s a leak Practice Gallery Philadelphia, PA
Holes Temple Contemporary, MFA Thesis Exhibition
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 (Upcoming)Do You Feel Real?, Showtown, Icebox Project Space Philadelphia, PA
(Upcoming) Future Continuous CFEVA
Streetview Studio 105, in conjunction with Sensus publication
To hear to view Icebox Project Space - Juried by Anthony Elms
2024 High in Fiber Abington Art Center Jenkintown, PA
The Sublime is Meow Big Ramp Philadelphia, PA
Fuzzy Forms Stella Elkins Gallery
Material Matters Green Hallway, Tyler School of Art & Architecture
2020 The Violet Hour BFA Thesis Exhibition TXST(virtual) San Marcos, TX
You Had to Be There TXST (virtual)
Professional Experience
2025 Curtis Custom Fab, Metal shop worker Philadelphia, PA
Grizzly Grizzly, Participating Collective Member
2024 Fuzzy Forms, Curator, Stella Elkins Gallery
Pepón Osorio, Studio Assistant
2022&2023 Mendez Middle School, Fine Arts Teacher Austin, TX
2021&2022 Totally Cool Totally Art/City of Austin, Sculpture Teacher
Gil Bruvel, Studio Assistant Wimberley, TX
2020&2021 ArtPace Residency, Intern & Paid Studio Assistant San Antonio, TX
Bibliography
2025 Sensus Volume 1: Streetview Publication by Diego Juarez & Macy West
Intersections MFA Catalog by Liam Maher
To hear to view Exhibition Catalog by Anthony Elms
Academic Leadership & Awards
2024-2025 Graduate Arts Collective, Leadership-Vice President Philadelphia, PA
Tyler Scholarship Full Tuition
Joseph Janczuk Scholarship
2023-2024 Tyler Scholarship Half tuition
Public Speaking & Lectures
2025 Visiting Artist Lecture, Q&A, Student Reviews, Raritan Valley Community Coll.
there’s a leak, Q&A with CFEVA programs director Lily Gilston
2024 Fiber and Material Studies MFA Artist Talk Series, Temple University
2023 Fiber and Material Studies MFA Artist Talk Series, Temple University