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Artist Exhibitions:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Galleries:
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Artist Reviews:
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Collections:
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Artist Statement for Matt Myers
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My work as a full-time artist-blacksmith and with metals both ferrous and non-ferrous began rather accidentally about eight years ago. I was a painter for thirteen years and would make objects from which I would then do drawings and paintings. Slowly these objects began to take on more importance for me than the drawings and paintings. At the same time I had returned to school to finish my BFA and discovered a love of metalsmithing and jewelry making through a class at WIU where I ultimately earned my degree in it.
I converted my painting studio into a metalsmithing studio where I worked on jewelry, hollowware, and small scale sculpture. As my skills increased and this work progressed I began to desire to make some of my own more specialized metalsmithing tools; hammers, stakes and such. I got some books, built a small forge, and began teaching myself how to work with hot steel. Before long I was hooked on this primal and ancient craft.
Over the last 4-5 years this has become the main focus of my work. (n 2006 I moved into a bigger shop and started the Black Toad Forge where I make everything from architectural iron work and sculpture to wedding rings and pendants and even the occasional painting.
My work tends to be about my own personal relationship with nature and the animals and plants that dwell in the woods around my home and studio in rural Illinois. I don’t try to copy nature but rather to emulate and investigate it through shape and form. I constantly strive to improve and increase my skills as a craftsman and artist through research and experimentation. It was this drive for experimentation and research that brought me to this point as an artist and I hope to never lose that desire to find new ways to express myself and to always strive to create high-quality work.
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