Check out Matthew Cornelius’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Cornelius.

Matthew, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
When I was younger, you could always find me doing two of my favorite things, playing with knives or anything with a sharp edge or making home movies with my Aunts camcorder.

As I got older “life” sort of happened. I know I’m not the only one! After many years of college, I realized, this isn’t what I want to do with my life. What I was going for wasn’t inside of me, I was basically living off of other people’s dreams and ideas they had for me and not my own.

I worked up the courage to confront what was going on inside of me and I stepped out of college. I had no idea what I wanted or needed to do. To be honest, I was borderline depressed and felt helpless. I just wasn’t happy, I know there HAD to be more.

I slowly got back into knives and cameras. As I made YouTube videos, I had companies reach out to me and give me free stuff to make videos with on my old YouTube channel. I started feeling excitement for the first time in a LONG time. This particular company had a hatchet that I decided to wood burn designs on one day. Someone locally saw this and asked me if I would start making these for the soldiers in his unit. Fast forward a couple of years and now I’m fortunate enough to be able to send these all over the world.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I create tomahawks, but not like the ones you are used to seeing. They are decorative but very functional. I source all my materials such as the metal & wood from different companies. What makes my work different is that I do a lot of carving, burning and engraving designs into all parts of the tomahawk.

A lot of my clients purchase my work for Birthdays, Holidays, special occasions as well as camping and other things!
A majority of my work is custom, meaning my clients tell me what they somewhat want and I help them to complete their vision and turn their ideas into reality. I carve a lot of names, phrases and even designs based off their nationality. I am very humbled to have clients from Ministers to even Celebrities. When a client receives my work, I want it to be very sentimental to him or her. I strive to do this on every single project I make.

I take inspiration from everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean stained wallpaper in old houses, carpet in hotels and even designs on shoes. If you look, you will find inspiration in the most mundane things. And these things usually tend to be the best you can pull inspiration from.

How can artists connect with other artists?
Connecting is one of the most or not if the most powerful thing you can do as an artist. As the saying goes, you are your three closest friends. I have many friends, but my “circle” I run with on a daily basis challenge me, keep me accountable and encourage me all the time. I am truly thankful them. If it wasn’t for them, I would have given up a long time ago.

My best advice to artist is this: So many people let their talent take them places where their character and integrity can’t keep them. You can be the most talented artist in the world, be in the most prestigious positions, but it won’t last if you don’t develop your personal character and integrity.

I promise you this, work on being the best you that you can be, and the right people will gather around you.

ENCOURAGING ARTIST:
If you have a hard time discovering what you are creative at, look back at your childhood. There could be indications that will point you in the direction you need to be. I truly believe why artist have a hard time because societies standard for everyone. A truly wise man once said “”Every four-year-old is an artist. Until he or she goes to school and learns certain standards for art and therefore the student no longer remains an artist” -Source Unknown.

I couldn’t agree more. I AM NOT saying school is bad. I am just saying there are certain standards and demands society has placed on us that have unknowingly sucked the creativity right out of us! To every artist reading as well as people who don’t consider themselves artist, you have so much inside of you. There is literally untapped potential that is in each and every one of you.

Les Brown says ” The graveyard is the richest place in the world, because that’s where so many visons and dreams go to die with the people who have them”

I encourage you to go after what’s in your heart. If it weren’t for the artists of the world you wouldn’t even be reading this right now. It all started with a dream someone had. The only person that can stop us is…. you guessed it, US. Once you start doing what you are created for, I promise you there is no stopping, you won’t have a problem waking up early because you are living the dream God gave you! Go for it!

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The best place to see my work is on my social media outlets. The biggest support I can get is follows on all my social media. I’m not looking for a big name, but to connect with awesome people. This is the best part about it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www,corneliuscreations.com
• Email: matt@corneliuscreations.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cornelius_creations
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/CorneliusCreations
• Other: www.youtube.com/CorneliusCreations

Image Credit:
Matthew Cornelius

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