Edit: ‘She gives nothing less than 200 percent to everything she does’

Warwick Valley High School freshman Madison Tyzbir has always been into art.

This year, Madison dove right into the high school arts program. She enrolled in Nicole Sisco’s rigorous and explorative “Foundations in Art” class, which required a letter of recommendation from Madison’s middle school art teacher, Julie Cosco.

“Madison is an exceptional young artist,” Sisco said. “I also had her when I was teaching in the middle school, and she has always been so interested and curious about looking at art through a much larger lens. Even in middle school, she and I would have such great conversations about art, the world.”

Madison attributes her creative curiosity and drive largely to her mother, who always made their household a very creative space, incorporating art, music and poetry.

“Definitely, throughout my whole life,” Madison said. “She is in the mental health field and also paints. She definitely got me into art and continues to encourage me today.”

Madison and Sisco also share a love of art travel. Madison will be visiting her brother in Italy during spring break and plans to check out some artwork by the European masters while she’s there. A couple years back, Madison visited France and had the privilege of visiting Giverny, the house and grounds of painter Claude Monet, which inspired many of the Monet’s famous impressionist’s paintings.

“I went with my mom and my grandmother, the two people who have introduced me to so many fantastic artists,” Madison said. “Monet, Van Gogh, poets like Mary Oliver, all these really influential people. And that’s what made me want to do watercolors ... and want to write poetry ... and want to play music. It’s just how I was brought up.”

Madison attended Sanfordville and has been a part of both the PIE and MAC programs and parental involvement is a key component of both. Madison’s mom has always instilled in her the idea that “school is everywhere.”

“In my book, school isn’t just a building where you learn. School is going to different countries, it’s seeing how cultures are different,” said Madison. “Visiting historical landmarks, seeing how the food is; all of that’s education, too.

Recently, the high school art program had the opportunity to choose artists to contribute to the Wickham Works TreeCycle project coming up on April 26. Sisco knew she had to add Madison’s name.

“She gives nothing less than 200 percent to everything she does,” Sisco beamed. “Madison has created a very special workbook to inspire a new mural that will be created on the handball court at Deming Park leading up to TreeCycle event.”

Madison’s booklet provides illustrated answers to locally focused questions like: What’s your favorite food in Warwick? What’s your favorite animal in Warwick? What’s your favorite plant in Warwick? Some of Madison’s answers in her booklet reflect her interest in and deep concerns about the environment.

“If there’s a really big thing that I’m concerned about now, it’s climate change and global warming. I definitely think our Earth is something that needs plenty of protecting,” Madison said. “So, my booklet definitely talks about the need to recycle more and use more efficient energy resources. I love gardening, so I also said plant more flowers!”

She worked on her booklet at home and during her Foundations class. Despite its demanding curriculum, Madison considers Foundations to be something of a respite from her other academic and extracurricular pursuits (too numerous to name here, but which Madison excels at, by the way).

“Creating is very relaxing to me. It’s how I kind of decompress,” Madison said. “My other classes are all, like, very serious, I guess. This one, I get to be more creative and experiment and play around little bit more, which I definitely appreciate. And Ms. Sisco is such a comforting person to be around, and she makes it a warm environment. And all my friends that I don’t otherwise have class with are here, so I get to be with them and also do art!”

Looking ahead, Madison knows she wants to do something that makes a difference in the world, including the possibility of working in a field where she can take on the prominent social, global and environmental issues of the day.

“Helping to cut back on pollution is important to me, but also maybe something around civil rights, helping people get justice and making their voice more apparent. If people try to silence your voice, there must be some power in it, right?”

No matter what she decides to pursue professionally, Madison knows that making art will always remain a constant in her life.

“Creativity, always! I am 100% a dreamer and to paint those ideas, or express them in some creative way, is definitely something that I will always need, wherever I go,” Madison said. “Again, I am extremely grateful for the upbringing I’ve had and for the people I’m surrounded by today, who keep on encouraging and inspiring me.”

If you ask Madison what words of wisdom she has to share with younger artists, or artists of any age for that matter, she implores people to hold onto their own creativity and to never lose their sense of playfulness.

“My mom is always, like, follow your intuition and do whatever your heart tells you to do,” Madison shared. “Your creativity is yours and only yours. Go forth and trust yourself to create art based on nobody but yourself.”

Madison, whose middle name is Grace, also feels that people need to hear an important lesson that her maternal grandmother instilled in her from a young age.

“Wherever you go, do things in grace.”

It’s a timeless message that Madison has not just embraced but enacted over the years. To Madison, it means that you can be strong and be kind, be wise and be gentle, and in a world where emotions often seem to be continually ramping up, that you don’t have to be so angry and rigid, or constantly striving for power. It’s a way of being and exercising empathy that Madison intends to hold onto in her professional and personal lives.

“You can have a conversation with someone, even if maybe you disagree. You can still practice kindness and hold grace for that,” said Madison. “I definitely think it’s something that people need to hear, that kindness is not weakness. Kindness is strength. Kindness is so underrated. Peace is so underrated. They need to be more prominent in society, everywhere we go.”