Matthew Metz

Matthew Metz (b. 1961) is a ceramic artist residing in Minnesota. His influences include Asian pottery traditions, Greek and Roman pots, early American decorative arts (quilts, face jugs) and other folk traditions. Metz uses a variety of techniques in developing the surfaces of his pots including carving, drawing, and sprigging. Though using a variety of traditional techniques, he creates very contemporary surfaces having developed a vocabulary of images that he uses regularly that are both representational and abstract and deeply personal to him. Metz creates a narrative on the surface of his pieces allowing the viewer to tell their own story. Metz received his B.F.A. from Ball State University and his M.F.A. from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He received the prestige McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artist, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN in 2005 and 1997.  His professional career has lead him to be a guest lecturer and teacher throughout the country and his work can be found in the Arkansas Arts Center, Minneapolis Institute for the Arts, Racine Art Museum and the Archie Bray Foundation.