We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madeline Moylan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Madeline, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
When I had just started to consider launching an online shop, I was thinking deeply about my art and how I could spark some change with it. Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s passing inspired me to create a collage of her likeness from construction paper to commemorate her legacy of uplifting and supporting women. This initial piece led to my “Powerful Women Series,” where I make art of women with similar contributions to society. I research different female icons and depict them as a way to empower and uplift other women. This series is especially meaningful for me because when I started it, I decided I would donate all profits from it to the Women’s Safe House in St. Louis, MO, a local domestic abuse shelter for women. This non-profit organization’s mission and direct effort in empowering and uplifting women is entirely aligned with my goals for “Powerful Women Series.” Having this series come so early into “mampaperdesigns” has changed how I see my art and demonstrated to me how it can connect and inspire with others.
Madeline, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Madeline Moylan, the founder of the small art business “mampaperdesigns.” Born out of the pandemic, my art business stemmed from my need for a creative outlet when I had to put my primary career goal of being a professional musician on pause. It all started during the height of 2020’s quarantine, when I began to make homemade “quaran-tines”—like Valentines—to send to family and friends as a way to stay and feel connected with others. At the time, I also was working as a live-in nanny where I spent a lot of time with crayons and construction paper as I watched the kids. As the year went on, I began to create visual crafts and art projects for the kids, which sparked a passion for visual art. A close friend encouraged me to launch a hobby Instagram art account to share some of my small paper collages and projects after sending pictures to them. I chose my Instagram handle because the beginnings of my foray into art was mostly paper collages and my initials are MAM–thus mampaperdesigns was born.
After gaining a small following on Facebook and Instagram about three months into my art venture, I decided to take a chance on using a third party direct-to-print website storefront. This lasted about a year, but after I received more commission requests and interest, I wanted to branch out and seek ways to be more independent and establish total ownership of my art and any merchandise I would produce. My style and artistic medium began to expand from using paper collage to experimenting with digital artwork on ProCreate. More people started commissioning me for my art, ranging from small meaningful gifts for anniversaries to doing the cover art for debut albums. This expansion of my audience inspired me to break off from the third party direct-to-print storefront and start my own website with an online storefront. This was a huge step for me in terms of feeling like a true independent business owner.
After opening my online storefront, I continued seeking out different ways of printing and selling my art in-person after more events were allowed to take place in-person. I attended several events, making some connections here and there. I wanted to try and find a way to establish a more physical presence in the St. Louis area and in October of 2023, an opportunity arose to begin a partnership with a new local used bookstore, Read a Book STL in St. Louis’ Dutchtown Neighborhood. I started by selling stickers of my designs as a small project, but after some discussion, they started to supply me with used books too damaged to sell and I create journals and sketchbooks from them. This new project has expanded my craft and given me the opportunity to try my hand at bookbinding. I love being able discover the history behind these well-loved books, from seeing notes to loved ones inscribed in the covers to finding marker scribbles from a child amidst the pages. Looking through these books and finding ways to breathe new life into them has been such an exciting new chapter. This collaboration was another exciting step for me, since I have never had my art and merchandise sold in any concrete location–making me feel like I have a true “in-person” presence and stamp here in St. Louis.
My art business has transformed so much in four years and it has been really exciting to see how much I’ve grown my craft and skills since its beginning. Even though I experiment with many mediums, I like to describe my style as “fun n’ funky.” I feel as if this phrase perfectly encapsulates how my personality and art style merge to bring these colorful, cartoon-like designs to life. I aim for my art to uplift, empower, and bring joy and I have loved the connections that I have made through sharing it with others. I find that because I started this project in search of creative connections during the pandemic, it naturally became the true mission of my business and art. I love the happiness and joy that it brings me to create any and all projects and when that resonates with others, I feel that my goal as an artist and business owner is accomplished!
Have you ever had to pivot?
I have had my fair share of many twists and turns in terms of career goals since I finished graduate school in 2020, and I’ve needed to reframe and rethink it many times since then. The pandemic put a huge damper on my first dream of becoming a professional flutist. I was earning a Masters in Flute Performance at UMass Amherst and my graduate recital happened a week before everything shut down in March. This immediate halt to all live music meant immediately starting a career in music would be next to impossible. I was a live-in nanny for a family friend in the interim, which allowed me time to still practice my instrument when I could, but I quickly learned I needed to rethink how I wanted my career to take shape when “things would return to normal.” This is how I found my new passion for visual art. I now teach music full-time to K-8 students, but continue to perform musically and run my art business. Even though it is quite a balancing act, I have found that my idea of a “successful career” has evolved from what I envisioned in grad school four years ago. This pivot in how I measure my own growth and success as a professional musician and artist has been so beneficial to me in all aspects of my life. I was very rigid with my life plan before, and I thought if I deviated from becoming a professional musician right away after grad school, it meant I was unsuccessful. But as I am learning to adapt I am now able to see how shifting goals is vital to being content with your work and life. Even though I deviated from my original plan, I was able to find other passions of mine, like visual art and teaching.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I find the most rewarding aspect of being a creative individual is establishing my own voice, vision, and style and seeing it resonate with other people. This really drives my passion for creating art in the first place and it is often a vehicle to express my feelings and experiences. I know I am already a highly emotive person—I wear my emotions on my sleeve—and seeing other people validate the side of myself that I put into my art means so much. It keeps me motivated to continue. Even if I am depicting something not for my business, but simply for fun, this work can still be a source of joy for myself and others. One moment that sticks out was when I met a mother and her two young daughters at a market where I had a stand for my art merchandise. I had so much fun connecting with her daughters, who also shared a passion for art. After our long conversation, they bought a handful of stickers and a pillow that I had in stock from very early on in my art business… As they were walking away, their mom thanked me and said, “You know she will never not sleep with that pillow ever again!” This small comment filled my heart with joy. My art had found a good home and I got to see in real-time first-hand how my art connects with people.
Contact Info:
- Website: madelinemoylanarts.com/mampaperdesigns
- Instagram: mampaperdesigns
- Facebook: mampaperdesigns
Image Credits
all the pictures are credited to mampaperdesigns