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Glass Half Full: An Interview with Maddie Cardone Interview by Claire Gaspar In July of last year, Maddie Cardone was featured in our In Conversation interview series, but it wasn’t enough for us – we needed more Maddie Cardone.
ideas could be manifested in the material. I was getting good feedback and I was like ‘I need to know more about this material’, and just went from there!
Maddie is in her final year of a Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship and Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in glass at ANU’s School of Art and Design. Though she is still studying, Maddie is already making her mark on the art scene. Having curated a glass exhibition in China, and exhibited across Australia with her latest exhibition ‘Impressions’ at Canberra’s Tributary Projects, she boasts an impressive portfolio of innovative, minimalist glass pieces for exhibition and contract work.
How does studying art at university improve artists? Do you think university is a key to success?
We asked Maddie about the ins and outs of her career as an emerging artist and curator, a ‘how to’, if you will, to Maddie Cardone. Why did you choose to study glass? It was actually by chance. I came out of school and I was so bored. I was kind of struggling because I needed some kind of a creative outlet, so I applied to art school. Originally, I applied for gold and silversmithing, because I really like jewelry, but I ended up getting my second preference, glass, because they didn’t have enough spaces in gold and silver. I guess it was fate! All my
University gives you a foundation. It teaches you the importance of knowing your field’s history and concepts, because I feel like it’s not enough to just make something and put it out there. Sometimes, being informed gives you more opportunities to explore different things. I am glad I got to experience uni. Artists and academics surround you; you have the facilities literally at your doorstep but the thing is, you can go through uni, get a visual art degree and still do nothing about it. So it’s half the teaching and half the will to go beyond it; the motivation to put yourself out there in the real world, because uni doesn’t teach you those things. It’s about knowing you can succeed by just pushing yourself, submitting work, and going to exhibitions. That’s why I said to Annette Liu [recent collaborator for Impressions exhibition] “Why not!? We’ve got amazing work, we
work well together, we need to get our names out there!” She’s doing honors in photography, and photographs all my work. It’s so important and helpful to go to university because you do meet people who have skills that you don’t and you can collaborate. And it’s giving back to your fellow artists as well!
