Introduction

Hey there. It's me, Matt, and this is my first blog for Matt Donner, Sculptors page and I thought I'd say hello.

I'm just gonna start off this first blog with how I began my career as a sculptor and how long I've been at it. It's been a journey, a love/hate relationship, but one I truly am accepting of. So to begin this blog page and the introduction, I'll try to briefly answer what admirers, curious friends, and collectors ask me and that is, how long have I been sculpting? And it's a difficult question to answer. I first began legitimately sculpting in the hallway at my Big Mama's house, whenever my siblings and I would be dropped off for the weekends. I was about 5-6 years old and would play around with plasticine creating mostly dinosaurs and other animals to play with while my imagination grew. I wasn't a very social child and would use my time away from others to create art. I was an introverted child, I suppose, speaking through actions and art and sports.

Fast forward through high school, where I didn't do too much art seriously, I discovered it again while at Macon Junior College, now known as, Macon State College. It was a small class and an introduction to art taught by Ms. Hutto. I'm still not sure how I made it through, but she saw something in me and inspired me to continue with art. I met some really great friends, some of which became lifelong best friends.

After junior college, I ended up applying to the School of Art (Lamar Dodd School of Art) at the University of Georgia with a focus on sculpting. It's here that I fell in love with sculpting and everything it had to offer. I wanted to be a sculptor. What they don't teach you in college, is how to be a sculptor. This path I had chosen was and will continue to be the love of my life and the bane of my existence. Not a day goes by where I'm not thinking of creating something or how to solve a creative problem or how to finish what's being created. It's very rare I think of how to create for money, not even fulfilling a commission. It's always about the creation, the final sculpture, and how it looks to the world and the meaning and love, and soul within it. This is the journey I have set upon.

So to answer the question of how long I've been sculpting, it's really most recently that I've actually accepted the title of an artist and sculptor. Maybe it's because I've been honing my techniques. Maybe it's because I've learned the capacities of the clay I love to work with. Maybe it's the perseverance of trying to sculpt every day. Or maybe it's what my artist friends and I talk about and that is, it's all we know what to do and this is our life. I'm not exactly sure, but by putting my work out for the whole world to see, I have gained new confidence and direction within my life, gained supporters like you and thus a sculptor is who I have become. I hope you continue to enjoy the road as much as I do, and I want to show you everything I do to fulfill this entangled love/hate relationship of a sculptor and artist's life. Thank you for reading and much love to ya.

Matt