“I started out trying to define my art, and ended up
with my art helping to define me.” — Matt Hand

From his childhood memories, Matt recalls the need to express himself creatively. He could never contain his desire to draw, color, sculpt, chalk and finger-paint. He holds much gratitude for his family since they frequently let him take over the kitchen table with an endless series of art projects. Early on, he recognized his natural ability to take what he was viewing in person and recreate it on paper and in his art. Matt has sought to cultivate and fully realize this talent ever since.

Matt’s experience at Middletown High School in Middletown, New York was filled with as much art as his schedule would hold. In fact, when his friends were competing to see who could have the most study halls, Matt was busy filling empty periods with art electives like Sculpture, Ceramics, Drawing and Painting. He took it to a whole new level junior and senior years when he dropped lunch in order to squeeze in Computer Graphics. A unique accomplishment for him was being the only graduating member of both the National Honor Society and the Art Honor Society at his school in 1997.

Matt continued his artistic pursuits as a Graphic Design major at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He enjoyed and performed well in his foundation studies, especially in his Design, Photography and Figure Drawing courses. The concepts he learned in those classes he now uses every time he practices his art. Matt’s college career hit an obstacle when he made the difficult decision of staying home after his sophomore year to deal with a family emergency. His art education has since become more personally directed and spanned several state and community colleges to continue his progress in drawing, print/web design and photography.

Although, he never nailed down a college degree, he filled the gap with 6 years of daily art and design experience as Store Artist for Whole Foods Market. From his weekly rounds of chalkboards to his daily output of unique promotional material, Matt really developed as an artist. The lessons gained from this cyclical production of art and design has honed his abilities in a way that only real-world experience can. He was able to explore how art relates to food with his many works of cheese and melon carvings and his food and flower inspired paintings and chalkboards. He likens his experience at Whole Foods to an artist on retainer with a merchant family during the Renaissance. What you lose in creative freedom, you gain in having a consistent forum for your art.

His involvement in the art world extends beyond his work experience. He has exhibited his art in several shows with the Del Ray Artisans in Alexandria, Virginia, and participated in Art on the Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia. He was curator for Follow the Signs and Follow the Signs: Redux at The Museum of Modern Arf in Arlington, Virginia. He exhibited several times at the Eclipse art gallery in Arlington, Virginia. Matt was involved in Art-O-Matic 2002 and 2004. Coincidently, his art is also available in the machines of the Art-O-Mat project. The most interesting place his art was found was in the Art-O-Mat machine at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Matt took a break from art exhibitions after getting engaged last February in order to focus on his wedding. Since his recent wedding ceremony on May 31, 2008, he has renewed his vigor in artistic expression and is currently working on a series of charcoal drawings, which he converts to 3-dimensional art for use with red and blue, anaglyph 3-D glasses. He is excited about exploring the realistic depth of vision found in this technique.

What Matt enjoys most about art is self-expression. He believes that every artist makes important art since it conveys his or her personal viewpoint to the world. The very action validates their existence by taking their unique experience and putting it on paper or setting it in stone. Matt hopes that his art inspires others to pursue their own inner artist and to express themselves more creatively.