Brandie Maddalena was born in San Diego, California, and grew up in rural northern California. She studied at San Francisco Art Institute where she received her BFA in 2000. Maddalena and Jason Rogalski founded/co-directed a bi-national social art piece, in the form of an art organization called, Dot-to-Dot from 1999 to 2005. This social practice piece facilitated the collaboration between hundreds of children on the opposite side of the Mexican/USA border and countless opportunities for artists to transcend the limitations of the border through collaborative art-making. In 2005 and 2008, her sons Sage and Rowan were born, bringing with them boundless change and inspiration. From 2011to 2013, she led the creation of a series of community-driven interactive installations with San Diego’s CORE Projects for Burning Man. Through her 2012 Creative Catalyst Fellowship project, The Nature of a Door is to be Opened, Maddalena recorded the favorite memories of small children, and the sculpture of high school students, threading the community of City Heights together through a resulting installation. In 2013, Maddalena collaborated with teen Karen refugees in partnership with AjA Project of San Diego, to create an interactive installation, Sights & Sounds of Transition. From 2014 to 2017, Maddalena taught art/MakerLab to TK-8th graders in San Diego schools. In 2021, she received her MFA from San Diego State University with an emphasis on sculpture. Currently, she is teaching as a lecturer at San Diego State while she continues to explore our common humanity and need for connection through material and social relationships.