“For other people, what I could do was capture memories and hold on to treasures that they find special to them and bring joy to them.”
It was my junior year of high school that I started to lock in on art because I’ve always been kind of artsy, but that’s when I really found more time to do it. And so, I pursued that gift. My mom actually commissioned me to do a piece for our neighbors because their dad had just been diagnosed with ALS. She wanted to give it as a gift and capture her memory for them that they could hold on to. Then that became what art was able to do for me. For other people, what I could do was capture memories and hold on to treasures that they find special to them and bring joy to them.
I did a painting in the spring at home just for fun of Pat Neff Hall and I was like, ‘Huh, maybe if I made a copy for President Livingstone, I could just hand deliver it and give it to her, because why not?’ And so, I painted that and made a copy of it and added a special detail of BU in it and then set up a meeting with her assistant. I was in the front office and President Livingstone came out and met with me and I got to hand it off, which was cool. Then this past fall, they reached back out and said, ‘We would like to commission something similar.’
They gave me 10 pictures to work off of, and I just created what they wanted. It’s a scene looking down Fifth Street toward downtown. The Waco skyline is in the background. It has the (Rosenbalm) Fountain and the homecoming parade. There’s the marching band with the Bear mascots, Bruiser and Marigold, riding in a Jeep. Then the trees and crowd on the sides and the big BU balloon in the sky. And it has President and Mr. Livingstone and BU walking alongside the parade.
I created the original and scanned it and made 60 copies of it. They told me it would be a gift for each of the Board of Regents members. Then I hand-signed each one.
I love interior design, but I feel like I’ll be able to always keep art with me for the rest of my life. I’ll probably retire from interior design eventually, but I like them both right now, so we’ll just see. But I feel like the Lord can use them together. We’ll see what happens.
Madelyn Gregg is a sophomore interior design major at Baylor University. A native of Franklin, Tennessee, Gregg began watercolor painting just a couple of years ago and has already had a piece commissioned by Baylor President Linda Livingstone. Two of her paintings are in the president’s suite in Pat Neff Hall on the Baylor campus.
“At each Board of Regents meeting, we include students by inviting one to lead the devotional and several to lead an activity highlighting a Baylor program,” Livingstone said. “After meeting Madelyn, I wanted the regents to have the opportunity to meet her, too. Her artistic skills are impressive, and with her ability to capture so many meaningful details within her paintings, we knew immediately that it would be so fun and special to see what she could create to represent one of our cherished traditions, Baylor Homecoming. Sharing this artwork created by a current student made it even more special for the Board of Regents.”
Gregg’s work can be seen at her website — mgartwork.com — and on Instragram: madelyngreggart.
