We were lucky to catch up with Madison Vermilya recently and have shared our conversation below.

Madison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

This probably sounds cliche, but I feel like I always knew I wanted a creative career. I didn’t know exactly what, or how, and in a way I still feel that. I enjoy so many different things whether that’s painting, illustration, photography and I have tried to stay open to how a creative career could unfold. I just always knew I wanted it to be a big part of my life. I remember being five years old, saying I wanted to be an author and illustrator. I would spend hours doodling and sketching characters out of coloring books to see if I could do it, and making up stories. I had to stop to take a photo of everything, everywhere. Growing up, art was always a therapy for me, and it still is, which is probably why I’m so passionate about it – because I know how big of a difference having that outlet can make in someone’s life. That’s the biggest reason that no matter what road blocks or difficulties come along with pursuing a creative path – and there is plenty – I won’t ever give it up. Bringing a little beauty into the world or a little bit of joy into someone’s life just by them buying something you made to hang in their home, or wear, or gift to someone, and it adds some happiness to their day, it’s really an honor.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Madison Vermilya, I’m 28 years old, and I currently live in South Philadelphia with my dog. I was raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, moved to Philly when I was 18 for school, left for a few years to live elsewhere, and came back about 2 years ago. I’m an artist, illustrator, photographer and overall lover of creating things. In the last two years, I had a goal to just start making more things that I love and I find fun to make, and seeing if others would be interested.

For my illustrations, I’ve had a lot of fun turning them into prints, stickers, and I am hoping to try some other things like a playing card deck, coloring book, and more. I love painting as well and use traditional materials such as canvas, but also love painting other items such as jackets and bags, shoes, and whatever I think seems interesting.

I do offer commission portraits of people, pets, homes or businesses, and am always open to other commissions if it seems like a good fit. My current favorite type of commission might be doing a custom painted jacket. I sell everything online as well as in person at events when possible and a few different stores.

I graduated school in 2017, and after that, it was really hard for me to find a community of people. But since moving back to Philly, I made a commitment to myself to try and find a community again, and have started doing more markets and pop-ups, reaching out to stores about carrying my artwork and looking for places that may be interested in having a show. Just putting myself out there and overcoming the anxiety with that for me has opened up a lot more doors than where I was before and has allowed me to make more connections with other artists and creators.

While I love digital, that is not how I started at all. I’ve been sketching, doodling, drawing, painting, ever since I was a kid and never stopped. I used to spend hours drawing portraits in pencil, paint, charcoal, all of the above, to see if I could do it. I’ve always had a love for the tangible nature and process of making art. During Covid, I lost my job, I was really nervous and anxious, I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I decided to try making digital art as something new to learn. Still one of my favorite parts is turning it into a print or other item and having the physical object.

It’s taken a lot of time to figure out what direction I want my career to go in as an artist, and I think that’s something I’m still figuring out, but again, right now I’m really enjoying making things I’d like to see and seeing if others enjoy the designs too.

I wish people knew how much it meant every time they buy something I made, whether that’s a print, sticker, or commission piece, whatever it is. It means the world that someone is choosing to add to their life something I created, and that in turn helps me keeping doing this. It means the world someone is trusting me to do a portrait of someone they love. It means the world that you might not know me at all, but even buying a $3 sticker, you’re supporting my dream, and that’s something I could never take for granted.

I still have a lot of growing I want to do in every aspect of my life, but I hope this small business keeps growing and that it continues to connect to more people in the process.

Transparently, I also work a full time job. That’s just the reality of my situation, and I’m sure a reality for lots of people. I don’t want people to think just because their creative career isn’t their full time thing right away they should stop, because I don’t think that’s realistic for many people, and I don’t think it should stop them from pursuing what they love if they want to.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think a lot of my story in life has been about resilience, not always by choice, but by necessity. It’s a trait I’m glad that I have. Without getting into every story or detail, I’m a child of two people who have struggled a lot with addiction, which made for a lot of chaos and instability. It wasn’t for lack of love, but love doesn’t always have everything to do with it. Getting out of where I was and coming to Philadelphia was something that felt like it took a lot of resilience. The day before I left for college, my mom was in a severe depressive episode. She struggles with bipolar disorder as well, and it was just a difficult time. My father was also in active alcoholism. I was lucky to have an aunt and uncle who were around, and helped me pick myself up, pack my things, and take me to school when I needed help. It was the hardest goodbye watching someone you love struggling and knowing you have to leave if you want to do better for yourself.

Getting through school had many challenges, but it did feel good to be working towards something. It was easy to feel like an outsider at times because my life differed a lot from people I was meeting, and financial things were very stressful. Family situations didn’t get any easier. But through a lot of hard times I also met some really good people and teachers that encouraged me to put that into my work.

To be honest, once I got out of school, I think I was more confused than I ever was. I still had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know where to turn. I was struggling in a lot of ways. I was lucky to have a best friend let me live with her for a few months, and then shortly after I moved with my sister and nephew outside of DC for about three years. I haven’t talked about them yet, but my sister and nephew are the loves of my life and biggest supporters. I’m incredibly grateful to the people in my life who even if they were struggling themselves, still were there for me and I hope I can be that for them.

My most recent chapter was moving back to Philadelphia about 2 years ago. I loved living with my sister and nephew, but I just wasn’t connecting to the area and was very depressed. It took me about 3 years to decide, but eventually I came to a point where I thought to myself I have to try something new and cannot keep living like this. I decided I wanted to try Philly again, and it was the best decision I could have made at the time, and I’m still happy to be here. I applied to a million jobs and somehow managed to make it work. But I vowed to myself no matter what I was doing, when I came back, I wasn’t going to waste any more time. I was going to start getting back into an artistic community and put myself out there more, and that’s what I’ve tried to do. I started reaching out to stores that may be interested in carrying my things, looking into shows, adding more things online, and signing up for markets and pop-ups. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but I’m a lot farther than I was, and that’s what I remind myself of on the bad days.

This was a lot longer of a story than I had planned it to be, but since I have the opportunity to share my story, I wanted to share these parts in hopes maybe it’ll reach someone who feels alone or feels like everything is working against them and this could help them feel a little less alone. I’d also like to say I’m proud that my father is 7 years sober currently and although there’s been a lot of ups and down, my mother is also actively working on her sobriety.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think our society should place a lot more value on the arts. Rather than trying to take it out of schools and putting it on the back burner as if it’s not that important, it should be emphasized more. It should be brought more into classrooms, into therapies, into tons of things. I believe that art, whether that’s visual, music, cooking, whatever terms you want to put on it, can save people’s lives. Having a way to express yourself might be the only place a child has to feel safe. Someone may not know how to put something into words in therapy, but maybe they can make something to let out the emotions they need. It can save lives. It definitely has saved mine. When I first got out of college, I worked at an inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility for about 8 months and was able to do art groups twice a week there. You could see the pain these people were going through, and it was really special when they’d come into the art group and just be able to let go for an hour and make something they wanted. It built connections without words. It wasn’t about being good or the best artist in the world, whatever that means, it was just about finding another outlet that someone needed. Imagine if every kid growing up knew that outlet was an option and it was actually valued.

I think it’s important that we help art be more accessible as well. You shouldn’t have to have to have a lot of money to be able to make or see or appreciate the arts. That’s one reason I love public art and seeing community spaces, and that’s something I’d love to be more involved in. One thing Philly has is a ton of murals, they decorate all the neighborhoods. We need to spread more resources so that people don’t feel like they have to be financially privileged to be involved in the arts. They don’t have to be a master painter or craftsman to draw or build or write. Creativity makes the world go round, and there’s a lot of value in it that I don’t think gets the appreciation it deserves.

Contact Info:

• Website: MadisonVermilyArt.etsy.com
• Instagram: @madvond
• Facebook: Madison Vermilya Art
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-vermilya-33314071/
• Other: www.MadisonVermilya.com – currently a fine art portfolio but am working on updating with new information.