Matthew F. Schwager
Artist Statement:
At a young age, Matt was encouraged to paint still life by his instructor William J. Shultz. Due to a lack of models and many rainy days, he chiefly became a still life painter.
In contrast to artists who see still life’s as a subject for students to do and later graduate towards portraits or the figure. Matt believes that still life’s are just as significant as other disciplines. He doesn’t care for cleverly arranged, finely rendered pieces. Rather, his focus is on creating a mood, a wholeness, and a quiet spirituality.
Matt is currently working with a softer, more subtle palette because he prefers a quieter, more harmonious wholeness to the artwork at the expense of high drama. He is choosing to work with a more diminished sense of form, avoiding high contrast and sudden light and shallow effects. The objects Matt depicts in his artworks are of little importance. Rather, Matt’s goal is to create a lovely mood and spirituality to the work he creates. It is an ongoing endeavor.
Artist Biography:
Matthew had the good fortune of having Deane G. Keller be his fifth and sixth grade art teacher. Under Deane, Matt created his first paintings, was taught the basics of perspective, light, and shade, and was taught how to work with plasticine clay. As he got older, Matt began taking classes at the West Hartford Art League under Ruth P. Bazanker and then William J. Shultz, a man who studied with the painter, Robert Brackman. Under Schultz, Matt began studying in an impressionistic manner, using broken spots of high key and raw color.
Wanting to understand representational painting and drawing more thoroughly, Matt attended the Lyme Academy of fine Arts. At the Academy, he studied life drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. He then had the opportunity to live in New York and attend the National Academy of Design and the New York Academy of Art. While there, he studied under well-known artists:
Harvey Dinnerstein, Mary Beth McKinsey, and Furman J. Finck.
After three years in New York he returned to Connecticut to live and study on his own where he increasingly became interested in the works of George Inness and the tonalist school. Today, Matt is inspired by the works of Emil Carlsen and his quiet harmonies. Matt was born May 4, 1961 and raised in Farmington CT. He currently lives and has his studio in Middletown CT., with his wife Nadine.
Artistic Achievements
Education:
9/83 - 5/86 National Academy of Design New York, NY.
9/83 - 5/86 New York Academy of Art
9/82 -5/83 Daniel Truth Mystic CT.
9/80 - 5/83. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts , Old Lyme CT.
7/78 - 8/83 William J. Schultz Art School , Lenox , MA. (class monitor)
9/76 - 6/80 West Hartford Art League , West Hartford , CT.
Artist’s Studio
Galleries Previously Presented In:
The Greene Art Gallery, Guilford CT.
Randall Tuttle Fine Art, Woodbury CT.
The River Gallery, Essex CT.
The Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme CT.
(All paintings Great and Small show)
Open Arts: A Community Arts Cooperative
(Two person show with Nadine Schwager)
December 1996
Essex Art Association, Essex CT.
(two person show, with Leif Nilsson )
Sept. - 1990
Jubilee Gallery, Brooklyn Heights, NY.
Salt Box Gallery, West Hartford, CT.
Currently Exhibits:
LYME ART ASSOCIATION , Old Lyme CT.
Became an Elected Artist in 2021, voted in unanimously.
Awarded First Place in the Fresh Expressions show in 2019 for his pastel Tranquility. Award of Merit in the First Impression show 2020 for his pastel Copper Measure.