Artist Spotlight: Jocelyn Mathewes
The Appalachian Preservation Project is proud to present Jocelyn Mathewes as the first artist spotlight for 2024.
Who are you at your core? Why did you become an artist?
I grew up with an artist mother and a software engineer father. My drive to create came from a desire to investigate mediums and solve their technical problems while creating beautiful and useful things. At my heart, I am endlessly curious about the material world and the ideas we use to understand it.
I grew up in New England, often hiking in in the Appalachian mountains way up North. I like to say that I just tumbled down South into a very different culture, but it's the same ol' mountains that I love. The mountains have always felt like home.
How long have you been working with mixed media?
Since my youth, actually. I received the gift of a film camera at age 12. My mother was an oil painter who taught me drawing and collography (a type of printmaking). My father would give me geometric paper shapes to fold while hanging out in his office.
I have a degree in English Literature and worked professionally in graphic design and photography. I've used printmaking, collage, and painting in my work. I'm constantly experimenting with what happens when you try to transport an idea into a different medium.
Why did you begin pursuing art professionally?
Always.
"Professionally" is a funny word for artists. It comes with so many assumptions about lifestyle, income, and credentials. Am I serious about my work? Yes. Do I move it forward daily? Yes. Continuous dedication and improvement is what makes you professional.
What is the most challenging part of creating? The most rewarding part?
In my current season of life, the most challenging part of creating is protecting the time I set aside for free creative thinking and exploratory play. I am the mother of three, devoted partner to my husband, and very active in the local community, all of which fills me up and informs my approach to life (which is what we use to make our work).
The most rewarding part of making work is when I get to witness and experience someone's response to the work (whatever that response may be). When my work communicates something, it is immensely satisfying.
How would you describe your EAT/ART project?
EAT/ART space is a private pop-up gallery from a dining room in Appalachia whose vision is to create opportunities for emerging and established artists to exhibit and sell their work while showcasing local food culture in an innovative alternative venue.
Established in response to the closures & loss of opportunities during the pandemic. Since then, this intimate space opened to the public to give new and emerging visual artists a platform to display and talk about their work.
EAT/ART space is run for artists by an artist — it's myincubation project, a celebration of regional talent, and a radical statement about the power of domestic space.
How does your EAT/ART project intersect with your work as an independent artist?
EAT/ART space operates out of my home, which is also where I create my own work. It is where I give back some of what I have (space and time) to the community around me that supports me. It's a way for me to test ideas and gather people for feedback about my own work and to generate network connections.
What artists inspire you the most?
Anna Atkins, Henri Matisse, Flannery O'Connor, Frida Kahlo
What life experiences inform your art?
My personal journey with chronic illness, my fascination with origami, mathematics, and technology, parenting my children, and the theology of my Orthodox Christian faith are all elements that inform my practice and mediums.
How do you hope your art impacts people?
I want my art to reach out and touch people in that chest-ache place of beautiful sorrow — that mix of something lost and something hopeful, something that keeps you moving forward and that it is all worth it, working towards something.
What has been the most personally impactful moment in your career so far?
At "Within Normal Limits," during my solo exhibit, when so many people showed up to look at my work and share in a meaningful conversation about health and healing. It was a powerful experience and very nurturing for everyone who attended.
Who or what inspires you most?
My inspiration changes from day to day, because I am inspired by the things I pay loving attention to. But generally I like to pay attention to technology, fantasy and science fiction, taking time for movement (especially in nature), the mountains I live in, and the family I love.
Social Links:
https://www.eatart.space (IG @eatart.space)
https://www.jocelynmathewes.art (IG @jocelynmathewes.art)
