Maixia Xiong is a first generation Hmong American artist, designer, and educator. She makes art and design for herself and others. To honor her heritage, she strives for cross-cultural awareness, Hmong visibility and Asian American representation. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking and Papermaking from UW Madison in May 2015 and her Post Baccalaureate in Media Design from Alverno College in May 2018.

Her creative practice is multidisciplinary and often combines analog and digital processes. She uses a variety of equipment, tools and techniques to achieve the desired form of visual art that enhances the stories and experiences she hopes to convey. Printmaking, illustration, zines, and artist books are most frequent in her work. To maintain a balance in her practice, she does three types of work. On one end of the creative spectrum, she researches and explores concepts and ideas to create deeply meaningful art and design for herself. On the other end, she pursues simple but bold ideas to tell stories through zines and comics. Finally, she creates for others through art requests, community art, personalized instruction, program development, graphic design, and branded experiences. When Maixia is not investigating new technologies or ways to improve her creative practice, she can be found adventuring the hills, rivers, valleys and canyons of America with friends and family to replenish her creative energy. Her ideal day is sunny with a light sweater, quiet morning gardening, good coffee and toast, handwritten notes, and the chance to catch up on a tv show, podcast, or video game.

Cutesy Macabre is a self-taught milwaukee-based artist, illustrator, and muralist. 

After a series of accidents in the mid 2010’s that shifted her career trajectory, she dove back into a childhood love of drawing. Since then, she has taught herself how to paint, become an award-winning member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and has murals and public art pieces in Wisconsin, Nevada, and Tennessee. Most recent murals include the new Sip & Purr Brady location, a Habitat for Humanity mural, and the jersey barriers as a part of the Ivanhoe Plaza mural makeover. 

Also an actress in the greater Milwaukee area, Cutesy Macabre enjoys combining elements of performance art with live painting, set-building to her market set-ups, and interactive (previously anonymous) street art to the Milwaukee area. 

A former aide for children with disabilities and current art specialist for adults with disabilities and the elderly, Cutesy Macabre can be found in her studio when she’s not traveling painting murals, reading almost any book she can get her hands on, and trying to learn how to make a crepe cake.