Myth and Predicaments: Carved in Steel
August 1 – October 31, 2016
The Wood Library & Museum is excited to introduce Matt Evald Johnson and his sculptures created from manipulated steel to South Windsor with the exhibit Myth and Predicaments: Carved in Steel. 
Says Johnson of this exhibit, “This body of recent representational work has me committed to a denser interaction with steel; not necessarily a more calm or a more sedentary or a more thoughtful interaction, but one that is less determined by physical sport and bodily thresholds. This method of “carving” the steel with a torch slows and elongates the (desired) process-fueled intensity. Manual operations that once occurred immediately by the action of a violent burst now may be lingered-over and waited-upon; vehemently sustaining the applied tensions and prolonging the immersion between myself and my medium. The resulting “characters” or “scenes”, having both suffered and celebrated all this in their coming-to-be, resonate tones that readily attach the figuration to my current overall condition as an individual as well as a member of the larger or more universal narrative. It seems very fitting that these compositions – so driven by my interest in things literary – are being exhibited in a library.”
Matt received his BFA from Houston University in Texas and his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He worked in several studios and taught at several universities in that area before being drawn to the Pioneer Valley. Matt became aware of the growing force of artists and of contemporary art occurring in the region and decided to settle, with his family, in Easthampton, MA.
The move offered the opportunity to increase his sculptural potential by executing larger scale works in the outdoor environment. Medusa, to be displayed on the front lawn of The Wood is a result of this newly tapped artistic potential. “My resources, within me and without, must change with the challenge of each new work or body of work. The limitations of my intellect, body and studio are to be constantly engaged thus assuring stimulation, growth and renewal in life as well as in art,” says Johnson.