Today we’d like to introduce you to Matty Malone.
Hi Matty, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a local artist in Scottsdale Arizona where I manage a small fine arts school; in addition I have been pursuing my career as a painter and fine art educator. I was born and raised in the pacific northwest in a small town west of Seattle. Being raised in a place with towering trees and overcast skies block your view a majority of the time, moving to the southwest felt like a deep inhale in my life. I have studied art since a young age, tenacious in the pursuit of growth and knowledge from art history to the more technical fine art skills of painting. I received a Bachelors of Arts in Comparative Cultural Studies at Northern Arizona University with an emphasis in art history, and minors in Italian, Museum Studies, and Studio Arts. Since college I have led a tandem life of managing art galleries, working in museums, and growing my own business as an artist and educator. I was never drawn to the traditional educational model in schools because I felt it didn’t have the capacity to dive deeper and reach a broader audience. My passion is to make the arts accessible, desirable, and digestible to everyday people. I love to teach paint and sip classes where I get to turn someone coming in for what they thought was a silly experience, into an aspiring artist. I sneak in value lessons, color theory and composition like a mom trying to get their kid to eat vegetables. The beauty of teaching accessible public classes is then you turn each and every attendee into a student and appreciator of art. They return and tell me how they look at light on the trees differently now and feel the need to try and paint it. Or for the first time they enjoyed themselves at a museum, because they understood some of the artist’s techniques on a new level. My own work is a reflection of how I view and feel in the world. They are expressionistic landscapes that capture my own experiences and adventures in travel. I love to hike and explore the outdoors and bring hard to reach places onto my canvas for everyone to enjoy. My work is accessible in a way that to some, it is simply a pretty view. I enjoy the fact that someone could have zero knowledge of art and art history and find joy in my work. For those who have deeper backgrounds in the arts they get their own special delight in my use of color, inspiration from the impressionists, southwest painters, and my own special twist and expression in my brush strokes and layering. I have big dreams of developing my own brand of fine art education in a small business that will grow into something people associate with fine art becoming fun, approachable, and accessible to anyone with a creative desire.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The challenge with pursuing a unique dream that has to be built yourself, is that there is no clear career path. It is not as simple as get an internship for a great company, work your way up in promotions and arrive. It is a daily creative grind of entrepreneurship. I have spent a lifetime since high school being told that what I want, is not a real career and to choose something else. I am constantly questioned about the validity of the success I see for myself and the likelihood of it being a “real career”. But all that to say, I have loved the challenge. The more I am told “you can’t do that” (which is often), the more is pushes me to find success, and I have. I was fortunate to find a business so close to my actualized dream to work for and manage to begin learning the logistical side of the business. I found a mentor in the business owner, an incredible artist named Carrie Curran. While I run her business full time now, I still have my eyes set on something with my name on it, and the opportunity to jump from her ceiling is such an honor and privilege. Outside of a mentor, everything has to be self motivated, if I am not the one working towards it, no one is there to pick up the slack. It can feel very lonely and isolating trying to carry a torch for my own dreams alone. But the joy I have in my day-to-day work is all the feedback I need that I am on the right track.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Currently I am a large landscape oil painter, muralist, and educator. I am inspired by my own outdoor adventures and daily surroundings so every piece’s reference image I have not only captured, but lived a special moment in. I specialize in vibrant color use and blending impressionism and realism into a landscape piece that is full of life and artistry. I am so proud of the body of work I built over the last 5 years of living in the southwest and capturing memories, experiences and turning them into art. I held my first two solo exhibitions this year with great success and attendance in downtown Phoenix to showcase the portfolio. I feel that my work is set apart in content and creation. In content, I don’t simple manufacture my references, most of them were acquired through intense physical outdoor journeys on horseback through the desert, rappelling deep into canyons or climbing up to mountain peaks. In creation I felt like I took my first ever color theory lesson at 13 years old, and have been in the pursuit of experimentation and taking colors of the natural world to the limits as much as possible. From a distance my paintings look like striking realistic captures, but close up you can see the fun and expression in the paint and dancing brush strokes.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
This is a fun question, I am not sure I personally believe in bad luck or good luck. I think in life we are given circumstances and it is a test of our character how we choose to handle them. I think I have chosen to pursue every opportunity presented my way, to jump head first with passion and tenacity, and to hold a level of resilience that doesn’t let “bad luck” shake me. I work really hard, so to say that I have gotten here by any sense of luck would be an insult to myself. I chose to move to a town that has a vibrant art culture specifically in the style of art I want to create to set myself up for more success. Finding this studio that I work for feels kismet though, I had no idea when I applied for the job that it would have such an impact inspiring my career. So in a way, finding Carrie’s place could be called good luck. Any set-backs or “bad luck” things have only made me grow and I can only be thankful for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattymalonestudios.com
- Instagram: @mattymalone_studios
- Facebook: @mattymalonestudios
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MattyMaloneStudios
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MattyMaloneStudios
