She’s got a degree in physics. She’s served in the Air Force. She’s walked steel high above the ground. She’s been kicked by a zebra, survived a serious infection that nearly took her leg. She’s beaded giraffe skulls, and she’s currently filling the cracks in downtown New iberia with art. She’s resilient, creative, talented. Sylvia Madajewski is a multi-faceted artist with a body of superb work and fascinating stories to tell. 

“I first chose to focus on art in high school. I’ve always drawn to relax,” she said. In college, she first chose architecture as a major, then switched to sciences. After her military service, she finished her education in physics.

“Art expresses who I am. I have different media for different seasons. In the winter, I am usually painting. In the warmer months, I like to get outside, and do my glass work and mosaics,” she said.

You may have seen her in front of the Shadows in the past weeks, filling in the cracks in the sidewalk with mosaic art. “I’ve done about all I can do with the first crack; I was concerned because with the heat and the wind, the grout dried too fast. I took power tools down there, and got most of it off. Someone said it looks like it has always been there,” she said. 

There’s another deep crack she is working on now, one where the sidewalk is damaged and very uneven. “I want to make the next crack look like it is the mosaic that is pushing the sidewalk upwards, like it might just break up and there would be art rising to the surface,” she said. 

Yet another crack she’s eying for a mosaic, is a large gap between old and new brick near the Veterans Memorial  in Bouligny Plaza. “That one I want to do in red, white and blue,” she said. “The crack art has given me a little jolt to get active again after the quarantine. I’m glad to give back to the community. New Iberia might get a little edge up on other small towns with our creativity. Having the first one in front of the Shadows means it will get some attention from tourists.”

Sylvia categorizes her art not only by season, but also by what she considers degrees of seriousness. She has done intricately detailed works with white pencil on black art board — these she calls her “serious art.” Brightly colored psychedelic paintings are her “fun art.” These are no less rich and intricate, and some are meant to be lit by black light. Other pieces resemble multi-layered mandalas, which she draws, prints and cuts out for a 3-dimensional effect. 

She is also a muralist, having painted a large mural in Bourbon Hall in downtown New Iberia, as well as one for the Juneau Safari Camp in Marksville. “I served as art director there, for about three and a half years, and painted the mural then. The camp was a good idea in theory, the purpose was to bring underprivileged kids from New Orleans and give them an experience with exotic animals. Unfortunately, the owners didn’t think through the difficulties of introducing African animals to the Louisiana swamp,” she said. 

It was through her experience with the camp that she acquired two giraffe skulls, which she beaded and turned into art pieces. The giraffes, named Ricky and Lucy, had died tragically in separate accidents. It was also at the camp that she got kicked in the chest by a zebra. “The animals were used to humans, they would follow us around the property. I apparently got too close to one of the zebra babies, and suddenly the adult zebra reared up and kicked me in the chest, breaking two ribs. Lesson learned,” she said.

In 2006, Sylvia began the Acadiana Creative Arts Foundation, with the purpose of giving donations of art supplies to student artists, and broadened the scope to include summer art lessons for students in the West End of New Iberia. She is also an activist, advocating for the legalization of  medical marijuana. She’s spoken for her cause in front of the Louisiana State Senate and the U.S. Senate. 

She has recently recovered from a three-year ordeal that nearly caused her to lose her leg. “It started out as what looked like an ant bite on my hip. Soon, it spread. I had IV antibiotics, chemotherapy. They didn’t know what it was, what caused it. It wasn’t a cyst, or staph. It turns out to be a bacterial infection, and we finally got it under control,” she said.

With the COVID crisis, her work has not been seen in galleries. “I used to hang at the Rampart Gallery in New Orleans, but when everything shut down, that ended. I’m looking for another space, but that hasn’t happened yet.” Readers can see her work at artwanted.com, by searching Sylvia Etie.

Sylvia lives in New Ieria with her husband, Michael. She has two grown children, Dane and Kayleigh, and one grandson, Cohen, 10. “After the Air Force, I worked in non-destructive testing, and my Dad called me the crack inspector. Now, I’m roaming the city, looking for cracks to fill. I guess it has come full circle,” she said.