Madoka Ito (b.1973) grew up in Kyoto, Japan. Raised by non-traditional, artistic parents, she continues the custom of non-tradition. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 1996 and enjoys creating poetic and whimsical oil & ink painting on wood. From 2006, she started collaborating with her husband, sculptor Johnny Mac, to produce mechanical, moving painting/sculpture called "Cyclectic Art." She has shown her work in Portland, Boston, Kyoto & Tokyo and she now resides in the Bay area.

In my ink paintings, my method is drawn from the discipline of traditional calligraphy which I have studied since youth. Using the negative space is of as much importance as where the brush touches. This finds it’s way into my oil painting as well. The flow of the method is something that I don’t try to control. The blend of the two mediums and the feel that is produced is a result of allowance for this to happen by itself. The outcome this produces is a more direct result of the feelings which I have. The process is somewhere between one method and another, it always moves from one realm of thought to another. This makes for much variety in the way that the paintings are perceived. New or old... here or there...real or dream... these are the feelings that are tools in what I paint. The images come to be because they want to. I am compelled by them to do as they need.