Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Brophy.
Hi Matthew, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I first threw in 10th grade at Brian McMahon High School in Norwalk Ct. My teacher was the spitting image of Orson Wells and probably bested him by 50lbs. I would watch him sit down on a kick wheel and spin up a pot as effortlessly as a breath of air. I was mesmerized! After watching him many times, I sat down and found I could just do it. I didn’t agonize over it at all, it just happened for me. By the end of the year, I was throwing at a college level. Life has its changes, one’s that you have no control over. My parents divorced that year and fate had me at a much smaller school without a ceramics program to speak of. I didn’t throw again for 33 years!
In 2006 my wife and our 2 young daughters moved to Anderson, SC. Since my wife was in the hotel industry and traveled for a living, I stayed home with our 2 girls as the primary caregiver. In 2010 my wife bought me a gift certificate for an independent study, open studio class at the Anderson Arts Center. Monitoring the class was a local artist, Kate Krause. Kate watched me throw and I guess saw the joy of getting my hands immersed in clay again. She asked me if I would help her do a raku firing at her studio on Broadway Lake. After I saw her take those pieces of pottery out of the hot kiln at 1800 degrees and put them into metal garbage cans that caught fire and burned around then, I was hooked! The unpredictability of raku firing was amazing to me. I rented space at the Belton Center for the Arts and began throwing again for the first time seriously. I sold my first pot in 2011 and I haven’t stopped since.
I now teach ceramics out of the Belton Center for the arts and at the Clemson Art Center. Since I’m entirely self-taught I feel I can get the basics of wheel throwing through without the complications of education getting in the way. Keeping it simple is my approach to clay. Every piece I do is original and will never be recreated. When I first got back into pottery, I noticed most potters don’t spend time glazing. It’s almost an afterthought and takes seconds. I differentiate myself by doing just the opposite. I spend most of my time glazing. I’m always experimenting with new glazes, clay bodies and combinations until I find unique ones that appeal to me. My stoneware pieces tend to be my best-selling style. How the glazes melt and change depending on how you use them fascinates me. My favorite’s will alway be raku. Each one will always be unique and surprising as it comes out of the burning garbage cans I use in my firings. I also do ferric chloride and horsehair and feather raku firings. Currently, I am the Artist in Residence at the Belton Center for the Arts and I head up the Culinary Arts Program at Tri-County Tech in Pendleton.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I at first wanted to rent space and throw out of the Anderson Art Center. I tried every way I could think of to get in there but fate, timing or circumstances kept getting in the way. Finding a place to throw was the hardest part. People kept telling me to go see Betsy Chapman at the Belton Center for the Arts. One day I did and she was an instant inspiration. She gave me the space I needed and at a fraction of the budget, I was proposing in Anderson.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I didn’t have ceramics to choose from as a profession. I didn’t have the grades or background to get into an art school. I had been working as a chef in the restaurant business so in 1983 in joined the Culinary Arts Program at Johnson and Wales University. It was a creative outlet for me that was natural and I could earn a living at it too! After graduating, I stayed on with the university as an instructor for 2 years before entering the fine dining scene in Providence RI. I worked at the 2 top establishments for over a decade. Always in the back of my head was the draw to do ceramics again and I always dreamed of getting back to it.
Any big plans?
I look forward to sharing what I know freely with others and keeping my passion for ceramics alive by staying immersed in it.
Pricing:
- Raku pieces run from a low of $75 to a high of $600
- Stoneware pieces run from a low of $90 to a high of $1500
- Ferric chloride pieces run from $65 to a high of $400
- Horsehair and feather pieces run from $95 to a high of $500
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Matthew E Brophy
