Beals & Co

The Fairmont Heritage Place and El Corazon Club features artist, Matthew Rowe, for a creative and informative discussion on the power of ceramic art and its effect on form and light, and use of function. While enrolled at the University of New Mexico (2005-2010), Rowe worked as a ceramics instructor at the ASUNM (Associated Students of the University of New Mexico) art studio, and as a studio assistant for the Arita Porcelain course, in the Art Education Department at UNM—A formal method of porcelain pottery making originating in Arita, Japan, founded by Jim Schrubek after studying under Manji Inoue, a Living National Treasure of Japan. 

Matthew’s job in the porcelain studio required him to make all the clay, glazes, and tools used in every class. This was of fundamental importance for him as an artist. There he refined his technique and began studying the often ambiguous relationship between form and function; “it was the first time a teacher emphasized that the point of making a bowl is not the bowl itself but the space created inside—ceramics is not about making things, but creating the space around them.” Although he pursued a minor in ceramics while attaining his degree in English and Philosophy, he was unceremoniously removed from the ceramics department before graduation. 

Since leaving UNM, Matthew built a pottery studio in his Santa Fe home and works as the director of the Addison Rowe Gallery. In 2012, he was included in a two person show at Heidi Loewen Gallery in Santa Fe. In May of 2015, he participated in his first major gallery exhibition at Wade Wilson Art in Santa Fe, NM. Since then, he has exhibited at the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair (2016, 2017, 2018), Art Aspen (2016), Rebecca Fine Art Gallery in Cathedral City, CA (Visually Speaking: Color & Light – curated by Joe Novak, Jun – Dec, 2016), and Art on Paper in NYC (2019). He had his first solo Exhibition at Beals & Co Gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe in 2018, and has been on continuous display at Rancho Encantado (the Four Season Resort, NM), and the Drury Hotel in Santa Fe since 2018. Additionally, he has participated in Artist in Residence Exhibitions at both the Drury, Santa Fe, and the Four Seasons Resort, NM, since 2018. 

All are invited to meet Matthew Rowe, view his newest works and learn the power of ceramics and why this unique medium is showcased in museums and galleries the world over. 

Happy holidays.

One of Santa Fe's most beloved holiday traditions, the Canyon Road Farolito Walk, lights up the hearts and souls of thousands who promenade this famous path on Christmas Eve.  Small, sand-filled, paper bags illuminated with votive candles line the historic neighborhood streets and adobe walls. Carolers gather around the farolitos (Spanish for paper lantern; diminutive of farol, lantern; from faro, lighthouse, lantern; from Latin pharus, from Pharus, Pharos) or luminarias (small bonfires), and sing for joy as they warm themselves, and our hearts, from the cold night.  The Farolito Walk is free, and has become a celebrated tradition during this sacred season.

Contextual K e r n i n g - a solo show featuring Matthew Rowe September 14, 2018 | 5-8pm | at the Beals & Co. Showroom

Merging classically eastern sensibilities, American minimalism, and distinctively contemporary impulses, “Contextual Kerning” is Santa Fe-based artist Matthew Rowe’s first solo exhibition. “This is finally me,” says Rowe. “I’ve gotten to a point where I feel proficient in my technique, in my particular style.” In many ways, the ceramic works in this show don’t push boundaries as much as they eschew them altogether. Influences come from the pristine, achingly technical practice of Agnes Martin, for instance, whose fastidious grids and stripes led to a fascination with order; moreover, Rowe is deeply drawn to Japanese architectural aesthetics, in particular, the circular windows which appear on shrines and tea houses.

Part of the show’s title, “kerning”, is in fact inspired by a word Rowe first discovered on Photoshop, which refers to the process of adding or subtracting spaces between symbols and words to change a composition’s visual impact. “I think of my work as a kind of contemporary artifact,” says Rowe, who began the series in earnest late last year. A group of fifty small earthenware works rely more on happenstance than foresight. For them, Rowe fired flat ceramic slabs before appointing them with shades of indigo and charcoal. After they’re fired and cooled, he smashes the slabs into fragments of varying size and shape, before arranging them back into an approximation of their original appearance. The effect is both unkempt and exhilarating: compositions whose unexpected, freeform styling belies a staggering effort.

To create depth and intrigue, Rowe employs stamps—as well as vintage belt buckles, buttons, and other found objects. “A lot of ceramic artists take clay and manipulate it into entirely different things,” says Rowe, “But for me, the most exciting thing is to let the clay be the clay.” The material’s inherently earthy properties, then, are both laid bare and exalted. Finished works occur as raw, honest, and ultimately open to a number of aesthetic interpretations. “I’m finally there with my work,” says Rowe. “It’s kind of like dancing, when you get to a place where you don’t have to count out the steps anymore. I’ve been throwing pottery on the wheel since I was thirteen,” Rowe says. “It feels familiar to me.” Familiarity is an intimate thing, of course, but as evidenced in “Contextual Kerning,” it’s fantastically universal, too.

Matthew Rowe attended the Oxbow School in Napa, California, where he was introduced to printmaking, photography, painting, and mixed media sculpture. In 2003, studied under master ceramicist Heidi Loewen in Santa Fe. While enrolled at the University of New Mexico (2005-2010), he worked as a ceramics instructor at the student art studio, and as a studio assistant for the Arita Porcelain course.