Madison Scisci

Madison Scisci ’20 says that when she enrolled in Russell Sage College’s BFA program in Art + Extended Media, she identified primarily as a painter. 

Then she took Time Arts — a graphic design class focused on moving images and audio — and won awards for one of her first film projects at a local film festival. 

“I realized that there was so much more I could do in this medium,” she said. “With watercolor, you can layer, then it starts to become muddy. With film, the more you add — through the script, set, lighting, audio — the more depth there is, the more the story comes out.”

Today, Madison is a social and digital media specialist in Sage’s Office of Marketing & Communications, and a busy independent filmmaker and fine artist.

“Whether I’m collaborating with Sage’s graphic designer or editing video, I’m using skills from the years I was a student,” she said.

Her work appears on Sage.edu, Sage’s YouTube channel and other social media sites, in digital ads and commercials and has aired on local news broadcasts. 

Madison worked in the college’s Opalka Gallery as a student, and said that a video tribute to the Opalka family for the gallery’s 20th anniversary gala was one of her favorite professional projects so far.  

“I was in charge of a lot of it, which was new for me,” she said. “I was in the director’s shoes, conducting interviews, filming, and working with Youth FX on the editing.” [Youth FX is a nonprofit that provides digital media training to local youth.]

“And I did the animation!” she added.

Outside of Sage, Madison is collaborating on the independent film No Longer, Not Yet with Miranda Manziano. The two wrote the script and are applying for artist grants in advance of filming.

She’s created merchandise for the indie rock alternative band Lone Wild, and she exhibited her own work in Opalka Gallery’s spring 2023 show, exCHANGE.

exCHANGE features pieces by Sage’s art faculty alongside their students or their own teachers.

Madison’s paintings and a reel of short films appeared with work by Sean Hovendick, the Time Arts professor whose class helped lead her to personal and professional success. 

“I’m making films — traveling as much as I can. I’m painting what I want, and I’m earning a salary,” Madison said. “As long as I can tell my stories, whether that’s through moving images or my paintings, I would say, I’m in my dream job.”