Matt Browning

For Member of the Month

Tell us about yourself

"I'm an artist from Seattle, WA, who moved to NY in the fall if 2019. After making work in my apartment for the first few years living here, I started coming to MakerSpace in order to work on some larger scale wood carvings I wouldn't have been able to make at home. "

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

"I've been carving all my life, but I studied Fiber Arts at the University of Washington in the early 2000s, and this education really affected the way I made art moving forward. Now I think of most of my work, even carving, as closely related to weaving."

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

"I would say three things inspire me in almost equal proportions: Materials, techniques, and reading. Often, some material from my daily life will "assert" itself, kind of asking me to account for it in a way I hadn't before. This often leads to trying to comprehend something about the material, like what its mechanical properties might be, or how it might be situated within the forces and relations of production that condition our world. Understanding something mechanical or historical about the material helps clarify what sorts of techniques I might use while working with it."

DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PROJECTS YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?

"I have an exhibition opening on May 24th at Essex Street gallery here in New York. "

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT MAKERSPACE?

"I found out about MakerSpace online, but when I toured the space I knew it would be a really excellent place to work. There is a high level of knowledge and enthusiasm shared amongst everyone here, and the spirit is one of problem solving and support. I'm glad to have found it."