Anatomical Destruction V

Tell us about yourself!
My name is Gayle Matthias, I am involved in education, research and the arts.  I am currently the 3D Design Crafts Programme Leader at Plymouth College of Art, UK.  I studied glass at Stourbridge College of Art under the tutelage of Keith Cummings.

What draws you to the material you work with?
I work with a variety of materials to communicate my concepts, I am interested in elevating the status of 'poor materials' such as plaster and wax, that are usually seen as intermediary materials of kiln-formed glass processes, using them in my finished work.

What themes do you pursue in your work?
In my most recent mixed media work I wish to make metaphorical associations between my father’s garage contrasted with my mother’s domestic existence and the wider environment of the Potteries where I grew up.  These intertwined autobiographical subjects provide a vehicle to discuss my interests in the deterioration of the body via inherited conditions and working environments.  Exploring waste/abjection from a variety of standpoints: as the unseen, the discarded material/found object, as a by-product of my artistic practice, as loss of the pottery and coal mining industries that provided an identity and value for a community, manifest as geographical waste.

Why are you a member of GAS?
Because I find the international connections and information that it provides to be very informative.

Visit Gayle Matthias' GAS member profile here.

Sink II

Anatomical Destruction IX