Meet Madi ARTeaga | Digital Collage Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Madi ARTeaga and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Madi, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I am a huge advocate for taking calculated risks because they might pleasantly surprise you. Risks force us to learn and grow, whether everything goes according to plan or chaotically. My risks worked out for the best and changed my life completely. I began my risk taking in October of 2020 when I moved to Orange County, California from St. Louis, Missouri with only 2 suitcases. I risked my old life as I once knew it for my passion of pursuing artwork. I moved in with my great Aunt Kathy to take care of her along with my baby cousin, and finish my Bachelor’s degree online. In my free time, I experimented with collage art and started “ArtbyMadiArt’ which later became known as Sunset Freeway. I lived with Kathy for 8 months while I walked dogs, nannied, and created meal plans for clients to save money for my next move. I held onto my motivation, discipline, and vision I had that no one else could see. I was told to move back home from close members of my family. Although I love and miss them, I could not sacrifice my personal growth for staying in my comfort zone. I had to trust that one day my family would recognize why I made the decisions I did at the time and celebrate my future successes together.

Another life changing risk I took, was spending all of the money I saved on moving to Los Angeles alone in a 320 square foot apartment from Orange County. I knew less than 5 people in LA, had zero navigation knowledge, and was not prepared for the rush hour traffic. After getting settled, I began putting myself out there and started joining in-person art shows and galleries. Over the course of 6 months, Sunset Freeway opened an Etsy print shop and gained 50,000 followers on Instagram. If I did not challenge myself to move either time, I would be spending my time wondering, “what if.” The pain of regret and wonder is worse than failing, go surprise yourself and set the world on fire! Wonderful things happen outside of the comfort zone.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am going to tell you a few lessons that helped me get to where I am today. Despite over 3 million people living in Los Angeles, I have yet to meet another me. One important lesson I have learned on my journey is that your gifts and discipline will carry you to places you never thought imaginable. Does your path make you excited to wake up the next day to be alive and experience it all again? If you answered yes, congratulations you found your life calling, my friend. If not, pay attention to what activity brings you passion, or makes your heart float and feels effortless, this is your magic. Even if thousands of other people are doing the same craft, no one is able to do it like you can in your way. That is your power, use it to your fullest potential and have confidence knowing you are uniquely gifted!

My discipline, lack of judgement, and intuition have helped be achieve Sunset Freeway. By staying consistent with challenging my brain on personal artworks and commissions, my creativity continues to expand. My lack of judgement has given me the room I needed to grow in all aspects of life. With each challenging situation I face, I remind myself to stay open minded and that I am currently doing the best with what I have. The energy I would have used judging or being hard on myself, is then used for creating room for more opportunity. Lastly, have patience with the timing of your journey. You never know when your moment of truth will come, mine happened 3 years and 2 moves later and that is okay. The journey is just beginning for me, I am excited to see where my creativity takes me in life and how far you will go too.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When I moved to Los Angeles, California, I was most excited about the different nature and climates that are present. Los Angeles has the ocean, mountains, and is located 2 hours from the desert. When my family and best friends visit, I normally block off one day for a long beach day in Malibu because my hometown is landlocked by states. Malibu has the dreamiest beach scenes and mountain landscape views. If you like to collect seashells, this is the beach for you. For our beach day lunch, I would either suggest packing sandwiches and having a picnic on the beach, or eating at Malibu Farm on the pier, I recommend ordering the lobster roll.

Another spot I highly recommend visiting is The Huntington Estate & Library in Pasadena, outside of Los Angeles city. The Huntington is home to many tropical climates that allows wildlife to grow from different continents. The Huntington also has a beautiful rose garden of over 1,800 different species of roses, and you get to smell all of them. The actual estate home has endless rooms of timeless oil painting artworks and woven furniture collections. Another Pasadena favorite of mine is the Norton Simon museum of art. Norton Simon’s museum is a private collection of artwork from over the past several hundred years. If you are an art lover, like me, you will be captivated by the Van Gogh paintings on display. After seeing the museum, you can hit True Food Kitchen across the street for dinner. True Food Kitchen is delicious and known for their farm to table, organic meals.

Lastly, I have to talk about the dessert in Los Angeles, I needed to save the best for last. My top 2 spots are Better Than Sex Desserts and Afters Ice cream. Better Than Sex is a gourmet dessert restaurant located in West Hollywood that crafts luxury cakes and pies to enjoy. Honestly, choosing which dessert to get takes me a longer time than devouring the sugary goodness. Secondarily, Afters Ice cream is an original favorite of mine since traveling to LA for a trip in winter of 2020. Afters sells a dessert called a “milky bun” which is basically ice cream packed into a warm glazed donut. You eat it like a sandwich and have a choice of one topping to add. I order the S’mores milky bun with Oreos on top.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My heart is full of gratitude and love for the artists making up the Sunset Freeway art community. This community would not be alive without your passion for creativity and unique, artistic styles. We started out with 3 members and now have over 30, your love keeps us alive. Another shoutout goes to my Etsy customers, you make Sunset Freeway thrive by being you and staying present. I am incredibly honored to be hanging on your walls and be given as gifts to brighten a loved one’s day. Your empathy and hearts of gold make this world a better place to live. Thank you to all of the talented individuals for trusting me with your creative vision on commission projects, you have all helped me grow in beautiful, unexpected ways. My last 2 shoutouts are for my Nana and partner, Daniel. Thank you for believing in me and encouraging my dreams of becoming a full-time artist, I love you very much.

Website: www.sunsetfreeway.com

Instagram: www.Instagram.com/sunsetfreeway

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-arteaga-7872b8208

Twitter: @Freewaysunset

Other: Etsy: https://sunsetfreeway.etsy.com/

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me