{"id":5849,"date":"2024-04-10T08:52:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T08:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=5849"},"modified":"2025-02-04T13:20:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T18:20:25","slug":"dr-marietta-dantonio-madsen-a-divine-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/10\/dr-marietta-dantonio-madsen-a-divine-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Marietta Dantonio-Madsen: A Divine Calling"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column5849_f374a6-94 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p>Wilmington University alumna and adjunct professor <strong>Dr. Marietta Dantonio-Madsen<\/strong> has dedicated her career to serving multicultural populations through art.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhenever I see a need, I have always felt that if I have a skill set that can help different people and communities, I feel responsible to help them,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I pray, if I feel directed to serve people, I always do what is asked of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much has been asked of her through prayer, which is why Dr. Dantonio-Madsen considers every project a privilege. \u201cI trust I am being directed by God,\u201d she says. She has also felt a connection to <strong>Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/strong>, who believed in life\u2019s inter-connectedness. In a sermon, he said, \u201cAll life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"839\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-839x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5850\" style=\"width:315px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-839x1024.jpg 839w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-205x250.jpg 205w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-393x480.jpg 393w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-768x937.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-1259x1536.jpg 1259w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen-246x300.jpg 246w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Dr.-Marietta-Dantonio-Madsen.jpg 1340w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 839px) 100vw, 839px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Dr. Marietta Dantonio-Madsen<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy working harmoniously, we can have a force of energy that consists of love rather than hate,\u201d says Dr. Dantonio-Madsen. \u201cThat is the whole focus of my outreach work: It\u2019s about the power of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Dantonio-Madsen has spent most of her career in healing through the fine arts, having earned worldwide recognition and numerous awards, including President Obama\u2019s Presidential Award for Lifetime Volunteer Service and the Smithsonian Award for Technology and Art. Her many presentations include \u201cTransforming Your Trauma\u201d for a conference at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and creating the \u201cOperation Desert Art\u201d campaign, in which she raised $150,000 for art supplies sent to the U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. She has&nbsp; also worked with the Delaware Department of Justice to create a Healing Arts curriculum for incarcerated youth in Delaware. Her juried exhibits have appeared at the United Nations, many local and international museums, and several countries, including India, Egypt, and South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She teaches Color Theory to undergraduates at WilmU, where she earned an Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership. She is also the Arts and Humanities faculty chairperson and a professor at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, where she founded The National Art Educators Cheyney University Fine Arts Honor Society and the Epsilon Pi Tau Technology Honor Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Cheyney, she partnered with The Apologues, a traveling community museum dedicated to healing and assisting urban communities plagued by violence and trauma through the arts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI got a phone call from (television host and founder) Zarinah Lomax,\u201d says Dr. Dantonio-Madsen. \u201cShe looked me up and saw all the projects I had done and wanted to collaborate. I told her I would as long as I could use my theories on how I approach healing arts projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project was called \u201cHealing Arts Anti-Gun Violence, The Power of Love,\u201d and resulted in a 20-by-8-foot tapestry and a documentary that focused on 36 families who had lost loved ones to gun violence. The intensive community effort joined Cheyney faculty and students who worked with families impacted by gun violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cInitially, I wanted 20 mothers to come, and we would match them with 20 students,\u201d says Dr. Dantonio-Madsen, but many more showed up \u2014 and brought their families. For the tapestry, the artists chose to use heart shapes to represent the aching hearts, and individual panels depicted the stories of every murdered child.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI came up with a pattern,\u201d says Dr. Dantonio-Madsen. \u201cThe students met the mothers and families, about 400 people in all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cBy working harmoniously, we can have a force of energy that consists of love rather than hate. That is the whole focus of my outreach work: It\u2019s about the power of love.\u201d<em>\u2014 Dr. Marietta Dantonio-Madsen<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Dantonio-Madsen offered weekend painting sessions, served meals, and help from Cheyney\u2019s Art Department and a brilliant seamstress, the tapestry was completed. She told her students to ask each mother (or family member) what message they would give their children in heaven if they had the chance. Those messages were added at the bottom of every panel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Above the panels were the black, yellow, white, and red colors of the Native American Medicine Wheel. Dr. Dantonio-Madsen made 600 prayer ties of the same colors by hand for the families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project took a year. \u201cIt was an amazing celebration,\u201d says Dr. Dantonio-Madsen. \u201cThe mothers had asked me to make t-shirts with their children\u2019s names, so each parent, student, and volunteer got one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Dantonio-Madsen doesn\u2019t believe in coincidences, so when magical things happen, she isn\u2019t surprised. During this project, a colleague told her about Logo Motive, a printer in Rehoboth Beach, so she hired the company sight unseen to print the shirts. \u201cWhen I went to pick them up,\u201d she says, \u201cthe printer said, \u2018I didn\u2019t want to tell you this, but my husband was killed by gun violence in New York. I am still healing from it, and this project helped me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That magical connection seems to transpire with every project Dr. Dantonio-Madsen takes on, perhaps because she embraces a calling to respect and celebrate diverse cultures and actively seeks to expand her understanding of the differences among people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She has spent much of her own money on her work. \u201cI don\u2019t worry about funding,\u201d she says, adding that she hates writing grants but grudgingly admits to their importance in the arts. \u201cIf this is what I\u2019m supposed to do, the money will come, one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Dantonio-Madsen has a deep enthusiasm for delving into different cultures. For her dissertation, <em>Libertas Creare: The Efficacy of the Cultural and Spiritual Connections in Healing Arts<\/em>, she worked with the Delaware Lenape tribe in Dover, Delaware, to observe the effects of healing through the arts and ultimately establish a curricular framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also formed a nonprofit called Totem Rhythms, which offers outreach to the Native American community and strives to maintain the cultural heritage of Indigenous American Indian peoples through totem pole-building projects.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Dantonio-Madsen comes across as someone entering a thrilling career path, notwithstanding her extensive decades-long experience. Her spirituality feeds her vitality and deepens her passion for fostering connections and building communities through art. To her, art inspires people to share stories and appreciate the beauty of diversity. Her teaching philosophy goes beyond the strokes of a brush; it encompasses fostering an inclusive environment where everyone\u2019s voice is heard and celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With her work f\u00eated worldwide, Dr. Dantonio-Madsen has left an indelible mark on those around her, and despite her success, she remains humble.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m called to do this work,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, I\u2019m fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014 Maria Hess<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wilmington University alumna and adjunct professor Dr. Marietta Dantonio-Madsen has dedicated her career to serving multicultural populations through art.&nbsp; \u201cWhenever I see a need, I&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[145,135],"tags":[179,234,57,235,236,14,76,15],"class_list":["post-5849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-magazine","tag-alumni","tag-ed-d-in-higher-education-leadership","tag-magazine-spring-2024","tag-president-obamas-presidential-award","tag-smithsonian-award-for-technology-and-art","tag-wilmington-university","tag-wilmington-university-alumni","tag-wilmu"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":145,"label":"ALUMNI 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