Matthew French

Matthew French is an adjunct visual arts instructor, teaching a variety of art subjects and techniques at multiple colleges in North Carolina. As a practicing artist, much of his studio time is dedicated to sculptural ceramics, mixed media constructions, and drawing. In conversation he will tell you, 'he loves art and loves talking about art!' Living out west for over a decade, he earned his graduate degree at Colorado State University. His personal inspiration for making and teaching art is based on the view that art is a dynamic and creative cultural experience that humans have been participating in since the beginnings of our origins. In his classroom, students examine various and novel ways art can be made, including discussion on personal and cultural inspirations for making art.

Education

B.F.A. in Photography, University of Texas at San Antonio.
M.F.A. in Sculpture, Colorado State University.

Specialization in Teaching

Teaching art is a joyful and dynamic experience. Matthew French is consistently inspired by student solutions to the challenges of an assignment. He has a strong interest in creating an impactful, energetic classroom. In part because he is nearly constantly moving around the room, working and speaking with students, demonstrating skills and listening to them for the possibilities that arise out of their approaches. This active presence ensures a collaborative and responsive learning environment.

As an instructor he communicates basic skill and craft literacy in all areas of production. Students should know how to properly manipulate a tool, how to shade a shape on a page, and how to truly observe subject matter while drawing. He also makes time to implement shorter projects and warm up exercises that bring joy, spontaneity, and decisiveness into the classroom. Inspiring students is equally vital to imparting skills and information.

When introducing assignments, he frames them with both historical context and contemporary relevance. Adult learners, in particular, benefit from understanding the “why” behind a task, and that is a valuable discussion topic for determining the cultural applicability of visual art. His slide lectures include philosophical discussions on topics like the meaning of the word aesthetics or what is the difference between abstraction and non-objectivity? He encourages students to consider how visual arts communicate non-verbally, utilizing the elements and principles of design, that the qualities artists rely on to communicate are forms and images.

Research Interests

Matthew French's main research focus is geometry as a responsive force in nature. Within that concept, focus is applied to repeating shapes and forms commonly referred to as tessellations. His interest is how three dimensional forms can tesselate thereby structurally uniting to produce unique sculptural forms. Examples of this in nature are the bonding capacities of crystalline atoms to uniformly arrange themselves as they form into the materials we recognize such as crystals or metals. Those atoms arrange themselves in geometric patterns and those patterns aesthetically mutate as they adjust to anomalies in their atomic environments. This research is incorporated into his studio art practice, exploring the arrangement of sculpted forms in uniform attachment to each other and how that uniformity becomes aperiodic or incoherent (non-repeating) in response to irregularities within the constructing process.

Community Engagement

Active engagement within local communities is vital for the arts. Having had the fortuitousness to live in a variety of locations across the country, he has actively engaged with arts communities in multiple states. Presently, he teaches after school ceramics classes at DREAMS of Wilmington, an after-school youth arts program, and recurrently teaches weekend workshops at Cameron Art Museum. When possible, he enterprises through local art markets and participates in collaborative community art events.

Honors & Awards

2025 ‘Teaching Creating’ Instructor Exhibition for Cameron Art Museum School at WHQR Radio’s MC Erny Gallery, Wilmington, NC

2023 Community Arts Faculty Exhibition, Southwest School Of Art, University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

2023 55th Annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Juried Exhibition, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX

2022 The Humble Cup, National Juried Exhibition, LHU Center For The Arts, Lubbock, TX

2018 Tea Bowl National, Ceramic Tea Bowl Juried Exhibition, Bredin-Lee Gallery, Kansas City, MO

2017 Next Up, National Juried Exhibition, Next Gallery, Denver, CO

2015 ARTMIX, Fundraiser, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO

2015 Tea Bowl National, Ceramic Tea Bowl Juried Exhibition, Thornhill Gallery at Avila University, Kansas City, MO

2014 MFA National Competition, First Street Gallery, Juried by Asya Geisberg – Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY

2014 Icebreaker 5, Ice Cube Gallery, Juried by Dean Sobel - Director of The Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO