Chambers, Matthew

First name: 
Matthew
Initials: 
M.
Surname: 
Chambers
Country of birth: 
Great Brittain
Working period: 
2004
CV: 

The beginnings of Matthew Chambers in ceramics took him down two different educational paths that eventually joined at the start of his professional life. The first of these, and his introduction to clay, began in 1993 as an assistant to the potter Philip Wood in the Somerset village where he lived as a boy. It was both a very lucky and well-timed step for him to take as he was 18 years old, confused, and not at all sure where he was going in life. He fell in love with the learning straight away and began to shake off his high-school doubts. And as the skills grew, his confidence grew, and his love of the making started, then continued on to seven years of full-time learning. His focus was guided well from Philip, and his patient teaching and support was invaluable to him throughout this period. From this path he was led to his second in 1999, and the beginnings of five years within the Academia of Ceramics.

Matthew Chambers began as a 24-year-old student at Bath School of Art and Design (formerly BSUC), before continuing on to the Royal College of Art for a couple more years of postgraduate studies. There was great teaching in both, and a great understanding from the tutors about where he was from and where he was trying to go. In Bath, he was taught how to experiment with what he had learned at the pottery, and developped this into his own ideas of self expression. This continued at the RCA, and while there, he learned how to fully understand his expressions, and to prepare himself for life in the real world. He was graduating in 2004. He first arrived on the Isle of Wight in the late summer of 2004, straight after Art school and on an Arts Council residency called the “Setting Up Scheme.”

Matthew Chambers is living and working on the Isle of Wight just off the coast of England.

Pictures: Matthew Chambers, portrait by Simon Avery (source Zone On Arts); portrait (source Ceramic Arts Network); Concentrically layered ceramic sculpture (source Colossal); three objects (source passionpalette.com).

Work of the artist: 

The Ceramic works of Matthew Chambers are born from a love of geometric and constructivist art, architecture, and design. Each piece is a constructed abstract exploration of shape that combines traditional processes and contemporary form, designed to create a visual and tactile beauty and intrigue. They are minimalist yet complex objects built from layering many circular sections within a single form.