Maddy Moon Norris was born in England, near the Suffolk coast. Though, she has nowhere she can call home, as her childhood was spent being moved, often and randomly, from place to place. At age eleven, she was sent to a Convent school until she was almost eighteen.
After that, straight into Art School for four years, during the late '60s, graduating in 1969. A real culture shock, of the best kind!!
For many years she worked in layout studios, within the Publishing Industry. Though her life remained rather unsettled.
But things improved in 1985, when she arrived in the delightfully alternative little town of Glastonbury in Somerset, where she met and later married her kind, gentle painter/musician.
Sixteen years later, They moved to the quaint estuary village of Shaldon, on the South Devon coast.
Then, they discovered 'this Corner of Enchantment' on the coast of Andalusia. So, in 2013 they 'upped sticks' and came to live in Mojacar.
*** However, before Shaldon and Mojacar. Maddy returned to full time education, as she felt that she had taken a 'wrong turn' in her life.
So in 1998, she enrolled on the Foundation Course in Art & Design at Strode College, in Somerset.
Her intention was to become a fully qualified and registered Art Therapist, working within the NHS and in Private Practice. But in particular, she wanted to work with women in refuges, who had suffered domestic abuse. As she, herself, had previously experienced many years of this. So she understood where they were coming from.
She did well at College. As a result, she was offered unconditional places at two Universities. Tragically, a fortnight later, her 24 year old son, about to embark on his Ph.D. was killed in a car accident. All the same, she decided to take up a place at the University of Plymouth. She felt she owed it to him, and to herself, even though her degree course began only four days after his inquest. She graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Fine Art. Immediately after, she had a complete breakdown and found that she could not continue with a further two year full-time Post Graduate study to enable her to qualify as an Art Therapist.
Therefore, she became 'just' an Artist and happily so. "When life throws you lemons, make lemonade...and Art."
Since then she has taken a Foundation Course in Art Therapy, ran an art group within a small charity and trained as a healer.
She has been involved with Teignmouth TAAG Arts Centre and T.R.A.I.L. since their inception, as well as the original Artfarm Project. She has shown work with all three. Winning first prize, in 2008, in the South West Water Artist Awards for her sculpture.
She has exhibited, for the most part, in South West England.
There are examples of her work in private collections in the UK, and in France, Spain and the USA.