By Ryan Monasch and Mikayla Keshtkar
An artist must create bad art along the path to success because failure is a crucial part of developing a unique identity, says Santa Barbara-based artist Matt Mitros.
Matt Mitros, executive director of the Clay Studio in Goleta, spoke last week as part of the UCSB Art department’s Visiting Artist Series.
“I’m going to try to show as much bad work as I can because I want to disarm the stigma of how we evaluate work,” Mitros told a UC Santa Barbara audience last week. “As an artist, you have to couple the good with the bad —it’s all interconnected and related.”
Mitros, a ceramicist, spoke as part of UCSB’s Visiting Artist Speaker Series, hosted by the Art department. Students, faculty and community members heard about Mitros’ passion for organic farming and motorcycles, as well as his world-renowned ceramics.
Now serving as executive director of the Clay Studio in Goleta, Mitros shared his portfolio with students and described the challenges of choosing the artist’s life.
Born in Philadelphia, he achieved success gradually from his school years onward and his work is now featured at the National Museum of Slovenia and the de Young Museum in San Francisco among other international galleries and museums. Nationally, his art is housed at universities in Minnesota and Florida, as well as the Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina, the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Georgia, and the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse.
Santa-Barbara-based Artist Matt Mitros’ piece titled, “Side Growth,” made of resin and plaster. Mitros addressed UCSB Art students.
As an undergraduate student at Penn State, Mitros grappled with the idea of being a philosopher, architect, engineer, or lawyer. He decided to become an artist, and began his art career with a focus on functional ceramics, enjoying how the art of ceramics is so plastic, malleable, and responsive to touch.
Mitros was inspired by his art teacher, Chris Staley, who became a key influence in his work. “It’s a really important thing as a student if you can latch onto a mentor or someone that you believe in,” he said. “Digest their work, synthesize it, be so conversant with it that you understand it as far as your brain capacity will allow.”
He also urged students to “never take anything for granted,” a perspective he has held since a life-altering car crash early in his years as a student artist.
“That event of coming out of a coma and feeling tubes coming out of every hole in my body keep me alive, that was a very arresting moment and a moment where I surrendered to the fact that I’m really not in control and I never was in control,” he said.
It’s also when Mitros started to think about time, and how certain materials are emblematic of time, which changed his approach to creating art. “Ceramics is about fast time, about moving very quickly, the material will respond to your touch. So, this idea of objects not only creating visual relationships, but being emblematic of an emotional state regarding time —that was a critical part of this work.”
Click on the photo gallery below to see an array of works by Matt Mitros
After Penn State, he spent time at the University of Illinois for a post-baccalaureate. His angsty, metaphysical projects during that time taught him that “ceramics doesn't need to be an ‘it.’ Maybe it can be a prop, or part of an image.” These projects built up his portfolio, earning him admission into the University of Washington for a Master of Fine Arts.
Throughout his creative journey, Mitros has explored different materials, including un-fired clay, cement, wood, urethane resin, and more. His projects range in meaning and inspiration, from atmospheric paintings to wood-bending projects, to resin drip paintings. He spoke specifically of his interest in the “undeniable physicality” of drips, due to gravity.
The artist’s success with pigmented resin and unfired clay derived from his interest in working with the earth, preserving air, and its ability to be reused until fired. He prizes the ability to re-engineer and rethink creative experiences and mediums.
Mitros’ largest recent collection includes avante-garde mug compositions, with a goal of de-commodifying art. He described returning to “playfulness” in his work after attaining economic security, which has allowed him to explore again, to find artistic freedom. “That is precisely the moment when your art starts to become exciting, whenever you take the pressure off,” he said.
Arist Matt Mitros addressed UCSB students and faculty in the art department’s Visiting Artist Speaker Series.
Piece after piece, Mitros showed students how his artwork developed and changed, for example, from classic pottery to drip paintings with urethane resin. As he showed the pieces he made during graduate school, Mitros advised UCSB’s undergraduate art students to choose a graduate school based on the connection the student feels with the people there, rather than on the college’s ranking.
After teaching at the University of Alabama, Mitros became executive director of the Clay Studio where he strives to make a space where artists have an inspiring place to work and learn. He wishes to share his own experiences and even learn from beginners, because “ceramics isn't a noun, it's a process.”
Ambitious UCSB art students listened with rapt attention, clearly inspired by the talk.
“Ideas are so cheap and so easy, people get hung up on that,” Mitros told them. “It’s really more about passion. Do you like what you are doing? Because that’s where authenticity can be derived — from passion.”
Ryan Monasch is a third-year UCSB student, majoring in Film and Media Studies. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.
Mikayla Keshtkar is a fourth-year UCSB student, majoring in Communication. She covered this event for her Writing Program course Digital Journalism.