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A series of oil paintings by Jeb Madigan ’04 (Binghamton, N.Y.) is being exhibited at the Quadrant Book Mart & Coffeehouse, 20 North 3rd Street, just a few minutes from the foot of College Hill.
The show is comprised of 11 paintings, ranging from self-portraits to still life and figurative studies. It kicked off Sept. 7 with a “fantastic” opening reception, says Madigan, and concludes Friday.
“(Quadrant owners) Joann and Andy pulled out all the stops,” he says. “I was impressed with the way they dealt with me.”
A double major in art and English, Madigan was also pleased at how many people showed up.
“There were a lot of friends and family, campus students, as well as 10 to 15 professors, local artists, and local people.”
A member of the golf team, Madigan says his focus is on the “straightforwardness of real people and real objects [I am] constantly looking for new icons in old subjects.”
Planning the show and participating in all that goes into it has left a lasting impression on Madigan.
“I had a very awakening experience. It was a very different experience than I have ever had,” he says. “Ninety percent of the works are from the summer. I would go into the Quadrant from time to time and Joann asked me one day if I would like to do a show. It was kind of serendipitous.”
Lafayette played a key role in giving Madigan this opportunity, even when it was not exactly what he wanted to study.
Although Madigan initially tried to “avoid business like the plague,” he says that the art department has helped him learn how to market art as well as himself.
”The [Williams Visual Arts] building is a shining example of a table to find collective interests,” he notes.
Madigan is quick to give credit to Ed Kerns, Eugene H. Clapp II ’36 Professor of Art, and Jim Toia, director of the Visual Arts Building’s Grossman Gallery and Community-Based Teaching Program, for helping him succeed.
“Kerns is the best at it in the area, if not one of the best around,” Madigan adds. “Professor Toia helped me set up the show. He runs fantastic shows.”
Upcoming shows for Madigan include one in January at downtown Easton restaurant Jac and Co. and another soon after at Zazou Restaurant, where he was a chef’s apprentice, in Binghamton.
He is working on a yearlong honors thesis in studio art, and he worked as an EXCEL Scholar this summer with Kerns and Joe Biondo, the Williams Visual Arts Building’s architect, doing everything from helping to market ties and scarves designed by Kerns to making polyurethane casts of foot-long fish and suspending the resulting translucent, amber sculptures above a lighted mechanic’s pit (see related story).
He spent spring break as a research travel assistant to Toia, helping develop and install a temporary sculpture in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Grass Valley, Calif.; helping collect, photograph, and analyze mushrooms that Toia uses in his artwork; and working with gallery directors, artists, and environmental groups.
In addition to playing varsity golf, Madigan participates in intramurals and is a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, where he has served as vice president and scholarship chair. Other activities have included serving as a teaching assistant in art and as an English department assistant, and working as a legal and historical research assistant at Binghamton University and as a company’s legal and marketing assistant.