Maggie Matthews Shaped by Nature
Maggie Matthews Maggie Matthews was born in Blaina, a small mining village in South Wales in 1964. She studied Fine Art at Newport College of Art and Design followed by a degree at Exeter College of Art and in 1988 moved to St Just in West Cornwall where she still lives and works. Matthews’ work is based on natural forms – (flowers, shells, rocks, etc.) found in the landscape, which she reworks into abstracted landscapes that reflect feelings she has on the day as well as the autonomy of the painting process. Working from sketches done on the spot the paintings evolve in her studio, fusing these forms with an abstract use of colour. Maggie’s paintings work on many different levels – from decorative concerns that stem from a fascination with the repetition of pattern in the natural world to powerful colour harmonies that are an equivalent for the emotion of that day. In this sense they remind me of Victor Pasmore’s work. Works like ‘Twilight’, for example, show similar ideas to Pasmore’s painting in the pattern caused by the repetition of natural forms. The colour is both literal and abstract and the decision making in the painting seems very right. Matthews has obviously taken great delight in the quality of the line – incised and drawn. Another big change in her recent work is that they have become more perspectival. Whereas before her work was much flatter, the new work is more spatially complex and the pictures work much more on a metaphorical landscape level. She has absorbed her influences – Heron, Lanyon and Pasmore and evolved her own language which is becoming more complex and compelling. But back to Pasmore again, a quote which I think sums up Matthews’ approach to her art “I do not paint directly from nature; I endeavour to paint in relation to natural forms. I have only an uncertain idea before I begin. I proceed as the painting demands until I have realised it in as complete and satisfying a form as I can.” Bo Hilton, August 2013
Growth and Form mixed media on canvas 120 x 150 cm
Cover: Shaped by Nature mixed media on canvas 100 x 100 cm
Echo mixed media on canvas 40 x 40 cm
Secret Garden mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Flower mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Spring mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Make a Wish mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Intuition mixed media on canvas 60 x 80 cm
Germination mixed media on canvas 60 x 60 cm
Seedling mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Essence mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Maggie Matthews Born in South Wales, 1964 Education 1983 Foundation, Newport College of Art and Design 1984 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Exeter College of Art and Design
Solo Exhibitions 2013 Shaped by Nature, Hilton Fine Art, Bath 2012 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2011 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2010 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2009 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2008 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2007 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2006 Great Atlantic Gallery, Falmouth 2005 Great Atlantic Gallery, Falmouth 2005 Great Atlantic Gallery, Monmouth 2004 Great Atlantic Gallery, St Just 2003 Great Atlantic Gallery, St Just 2002 City Gallery Thompsons, London 2002 Badcocks Gallery, Newlyn, Cornwall 2001 Cardiff Bay Arts Trust
Selected Mixed Exhibitions 2013 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2013 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly 2012 Hilton Fine Art, Bath 2012 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly 2011 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2011 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly 2010 Chapel Row Galleery, Bath 2010 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2010 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly 2009 Cornwall Contemporary, Lenox Gallery, London 2009 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2009 Morvah School House, Cornwall 2009 Levant Mining Disaster, Community Arts Project. Contributing Artist, Painting Accessible Abstracts, Anova Books. 2008 Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance 2008 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly 2006 Great Atlantic Gallery, Falmouth 2006 Gallery Tresco, Isles of Scilly 2005 Great Atlantic Gallery, Falmouth 2005 Worlds End Gallery, Affordable Art Fair, London 2005 Beside the Wave, Falmouth 2005 Beside the Wave, Chelsea Art Fair, London
Twilight mixed media on canvas 30 x 30 cm
Tulip mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Up Close mixed media on paper 15 x 18 cm
Hilton Fine Art is located in Margarets Buildings, a pedestrianised street between Bath’s Circus and the Royal Crescent. The gallery shows a mixture of the very best in contemporary and Modern British painting, prints, sculpture and ceramics. The ethos of the gallery is to deal in painterly, semi-figurative work with an emphasis on the visual rather than the narrative.
Hilton Fine Art 5 Margaret’s Buildings Bath BA1 2LP 01225 311311 info@hiltonfineart.com www.hiltonfineart.com