Madeline Peckenpaugh

Born in 1991 in Milwaukee, WI
Lives and works in Queens, NY

Through her work, Peckenpaugh explores how memory and perception shape our relationship with natural spaces. Her compositions, oscillating between abstraction and figurative evocation, convey a vision of the landscape in constant motion. Water, a central element in her work, flows freely, merging with the pictorial material to create a vibrant and organic depth. Each brushstroke bears the imprint of an instinctive gesture, revealing an approach where chance plays a fundamental role. Her creative process, based on layering and erasing paint, gives rise to works that symbolize the unpredictability and continuous transformation of the environment.

By incorporating variations of light and texture, she invites the viewer into a sensory immersion, where forms seem to emerge and dissolve as one observes them. Her work engages in dialogue with the great landscape traditions while asserting a contemporary gesture, driven by a reflection on the instability of the natural world and the way we experience it.

Madeline Peckenpaugh (born in 1991, lives and works in Queens, NY, US) lives and works in New York. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, US) and holds a BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA, US). Her work has been exhibited, among others, at the Rachofsky House (Dallas, US), the Woodmere Art Museum (Philadelphia, PA, US), and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, US). Her works are part of the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art (Miami, US), the Woodmere Art Museum (Philadelphia, PA, US), Brown University (Providence, RI, US), and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA, US).

Madeline Peckenpaugh has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Graduate Fellowship from the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI, US, 2018) and the Baruch Kirschenbaum Term Scholarship (Providence, RI, US, 2018). Other recognitions include The Philadelphia Mayor’s Award (Philadelphia, PA, US, 2015), the Historic Yellow Springs Prize (Chester Springs, PA, US, 2015), and the Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA, US, 2014).