Matthew Drennan Wicks

Bio

Matthew Drennan Wicks has been nationally and internationally recognized for his ceramic and non-ceramic based sculpture. His work discusses a process-based exploration of traditional craft in a contemporary context that highlights specific domestic materials, the collapsing of historical stereotypes and the intrinsic properties of craft materials such as clay, fibers and glass.

His work has been showcased throughout the United States as well as Europe and Russia and has been included in collections in Massachusetts, Montana, Florida and Denmark. Wicks has shown at the International Fibers Biennial, Edition and Artist Book Fair: NYC and at Design Week Miami. He has been a resident artist at Guldagergaard: International Ceramics Research Center in Denmark, the Yucca Valley Material Lab in Joshua Tree, CA and is a Fellow of the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences.

Wicks holds a B.F.A. from The University of Montana, a post-baccalaureate degree in Craft from Oregon College of Art and Craft and holds an M.F.A. from the University of South Florida. Originally from New Orleans, LA; he currently lives and works in Tampa, FL.

artist statement

As a maker I truly believe in the power of material, and in terms of fine art I consider material directly interconnected with meaning. My current practice is a process-based exploration of traditional craft, in a contemporary context; which highlights specific and familiar materials, and the intrinsic properties of ceramics, fibers and glass. I am always interested in how certain materials and processes can carry historic, gender-based and domestic baggage with them. Interested in the vessel as a quintessential icon in craft and a method of defining utilitarianism, I often seek out specific domestic, objects that can be altered and refabricated in non-traditional materials. My work often strives to strip objects of their inherent function to offer a unique dialogue relating to materiality, objecthood and value. 

The use of ceramic, glass and fibers in my work has a direct correlation to the history ofcommodification and intrinsic value of material. As my interests in traditional craft materialsmerge with contemporary design and objects from the home; I have become fascinated by theconcept of “magical thinking” that seem to connect objects to good fortune, bad luck, faith andmysticism. My future studio practice and research will continue to investigate objects throughlenses of domesticity, ritual and materiality. While my work always strives to present the viewerwith familiar objects in unfamiliar ways, I hope to transform the mundane in new mythologies.