How do you describe what you do?
I mostly make wheel thrown pottery and occasionally small sculptural objects. I want to make objects that are used and that become part of daily rituals. This is what I like about making functional ware; cups, bowls, containers that can be part of a larger narrative as well as a space for contemplation.
How did you start in art / design?
I have always made things, and I studied fine art at university. I became interested in fine art pottery, artists like Grayson Perry, Betty Woodman, Mary Hellmann and Edmund De Waal. I started taking a few classes and joined a ceramic studio when I lived in London. I quickly became obsessed with throwing on the wheel.
What makes your work and/or process unique?
I struggled with this question, as I don’t think of my work as unique. Part of my love of ceramics comes from a knowledge of what I’m going to make, the act of repetition, and the fact that it belongs to a tradition. A bowl is not unique in that sense, I think what makes it special is the way materials are able to record movement and gesture and therefore capture a moment in time.
What other artists or makers do you admire? Why?
I’m particularly interested in the small still life paintings of the artist Giorgio Morandi, these have really inspired my current work. For me Morandi is able to synthesise the traditional and the modern through his understanding of painting techniques and composition. These paintings are small, and depict everyday objects, and it is their stillness and quietness that I respond to.
When you have the dreaded creative block, where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?
When I was younger I followed a Mysore practice, it’s a yoga practice where you go through the same movements and poses everyday. It’s repetitive and becomes incredibly grounding, I like to think of pottery in this way. It’s part of the reason I make functional ware, I don’t have to invent something new, a bowl is a bowl, I just need to show up.
What piece of work or project are you most proud of?
Everyday I eat my breakfast from a bowl that I made a few years ago. When I hold this bowl I get immense satisfaction from the shape and weight of it, the texture of the surface and the simple decoration.
Any books on your shelf or exhibitions and events coming up you can recommend?
I’d really like to recommend listening to Edmund De Waal on the radio 4 programme This Cultural: Life.
Why is Colchester Makerspace important to you/or and your work?
The space is affordable and it has made it possible for me to make work and develop my practice. The financial commitment of equipment can be really prohibitive but having a space where you can use equipment and also pursue an activity as messy as ceramics has been fantastic.
Mathew’s work will be on display and available to buy for the month of October at Patch in front of the Makerspace at Trinity Works.
Below is Mathew’s Instagram where you can see more of his pieces and contact him with any interest of purchasing!