Meet Minnesota-based Artist Madeline Orsinger
Madeline Orsinger is a painter, writer, and visual artist based in Stillwater, Minnesota. You can learn more about her on her website and on Instagram and Facebook.
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?
MADELINE ORSINGER: I believe a vocation to the arts must flow from the universal vocation to be a disciple and allow God to transform you into his image. When we’re keeping that the priority we can more confidently step into creating, receiving it as a gift for our joy and for the upbuilding of others. I strive to hold the title “artist” loosely, although I consider myself a serious artist and certainly have always thought of myself as an artist whether or not I was pursuing it professionally. But holding it loosely has allowed me to let go of certain expectations I might be tempted to hold myself to. For example, I double majored in art and theology, and after graduating I was eager to step into the “artistic calling” I felt I’d discerned as I pursued my degree. At the same time my then-fiancé and I felt drawn to be missionaries with SPO (which we ended up doing!) I served for four years, and during that time created much less than I might have hoped, however I never doubted that it was right for me because of the work God was doing in ME as HIS artwork throughout that time. Even now my work as an artist is only part-time, as I’m a full-time stay at home mama of two adorable toddlers. So I consider my vocation as a Catholic artist is to be true to my state in life and create authentically from that place in whatever capacity I am able. While I don’t consider my artwork outwardly Catholic (I paint primarily landscapes), my goal is that the window I’m painting will be such an authentic rendering from my own life, faith, joys, doubts—one journeying soul to another—that a person can’t help but encounter God through it. For this reason I call my paintings “sacramental landscapes.” I hope to meet viewers where they are at and invite them into the mystery within the ordinary, the hidden realities behind the visible. I want to paint radiant, striking, grounding reality—reality that heals the heart, that meets us at the core of our being and reminds us of the depths for which we exist.
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
Initially it was through Pope St. John Paul II’s Letter to Artists that I was led to consider my art as more than a hobby. Then through the many ways the “Way of Beauty” was woven throughout my theology degree during undergrad, I was struck by the power of beauty and the arts to reach the human heart in ways reason cannot. And so I felt, by the way the Church has already been sensitive to the great need for the arts, supported and inspired enough to make the then-daunting leap to embrace the arts as a vocation. And there have been so many lay movements lately in response to the need for beauty! I think the Holy Spirit’s been at work in this area, what a time to be an artist!
Where in your city do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?
It’s not hard for me to find subject matter I want to paint, and being a landscape painter I don’t need to go far! Just watching the way the light changes over my tiny backyard makes me want to get to the easel and experiment with color and light. But when I really want to get inspired I’ll go explore some nature preserves or parks, or drive along some rural fields. Something about the vast expanse of space, and the shapes trees rising up and praising God just speaks to my soul.
What is your daily spiritual practice?
I try to keep a daily spiritual practice. It’s ever-changing since being a mother of young ones, but in my current season I’m able to fit in about 20 minutes of scriptural reading and mental prayer. Every couple of weeks my husband will take the kids for me and I’ll go get myself lost along some wooded or prairie trail, that’s when I can take a couple hour long prayer “retreat” and refocus my heart a little more, and delve into things with God I may not have had the mental capacity to during the week. I have to refrain from day-dreaming too much about painting during those times, encountering God in the landscape just feeds my heart, and I want to capture all those moments and enter into them more deeply through the practice of re-creating and understanding the light, movement, space, all evoking the mystery of the creator who brought me to that place.
What is your daily artistic practice?
My time for art is in the margins these days, being a full time stay at home mama! It’s caused me to take my artwork more seriously, because I have to really be driven by my “why” instead of feeling inspired. On the weekdays I paint in the early morning before the kiddos wake up, and often before the sun is up, and a few evenings a week I’ll work on the more business-related side of things. A treat is certain weekends where we have less plans, and my husband will take the kids while I go paint on-site somewhere for a couple hours.
There’s a lot to overcome to get to the easel for some reason, no matter how inspired I feel the moment I’m outside, there’s always some resistance to mixing my colors and starting when I come to my easel. And I think for me that’s been compounded by getting up early and painting without ideal lighting. But I do find that the more regularly I get myself there in the morning and just start, the more I’ve grown in discipline in many areas of life, and there is sooo much I’ve learned about my craft from regularly attending to it. I consider it a duty in some ways, to regularly cultivate the gift within me so that what I produce is the best it can be, and allow God to use that to reach people how he will.
Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.
I feel I have two answers! One was last fall, when I had my first solo art show since embracing art as a career. It was at Dunrovin Retreat Center, and I had about 60 friends and family out for a reception and artist talk. The show was called “Fully Alive” and was about 15 landscape paintings, which I paired with writing to break open the mysteries of experiencing God in a “sacramental” way through the beauty of creation. It was SO beautiful to engage people with my art like that, and hear how it was speaking to them. I felt so grateful to be an artist and to see how God was working through the hours I had poured out in preparation.
On a more regular day, though, I think the days I live out my artistic vocation well are the days I embrace my identity as God’s daughter, and my motherhood full-heartedly. Before I make art, I am the handiwork of God, and the more I welcome him into my state in life and all that is going on, the more I can be transformed. All of this I bring with me when I get to the easel. The painting time doesn’t need to be full of inspiration—I trust that God loves me, and my capacity to receive him throughout the day will reflect in my work.
How do you financially support yourself as an artist?
These days, I’m working on building up multiple income streams so that my artwork can be a reliable income source for our family: commissions, social media sales, gallery sales, art shows, etc. But these first two years I actually started by networking and fundraising through meeting with people. I was blessed to have experience with personal fundraising from being a missionary, so when I made the leap to art I decided to really get centered on my “why,” and then share that with people and invite them to support me financially so that I could more freely dive into creating and experiment with getting my art out there. It’s been such a blessing, and I’m so grateful to the many individuals and families that contributed either one-time or monthly, and who want to see me succeed and check in on me regularly!
How do you market your art and/or build a professional network as an artist?
I joined an artist mentoring program, “Created to Thrive” by Matt Tommey. It’s a more broadly Christian artist mentoring program, and it’s just rich with information on honing in on your “why” and learning how to market what you do. And it’s got content on everything from “Is God really calling me to be an artist?” to “creating prophetic art” to “How do you approach a gallery?” I’ve definitely found it to be a valuable resource!