"ON THE ROCKS"
Show at Two Vaults

SOLD
Four Seasons

The Road Home
60 x 96

Side View of Poppy Vessel with Real Poppy Pods from the Garden (the inspiration)

Hand-thrown and Sculpted Poppy Vessel

Christopher Standing with Monolith
120 x 30

Portrait of a Painter
Acrylic
48"h x 24"w
2007

The artist mixes color

Carrying hot vessel from Raku kiln to reduction barrel (note gloves catching fire)

Lifting a pot from the kiln by hand, wearing 3 layers of gloves

Hand thrown & carved custom vessel for Port of Tacoma Stoneware clay to be Raku fired

The Port of Tacoma recently commissioned artist Christopher Mathie of Port Orchard, WA, to create a custom Raku vessel to commemorate a document signing that happened in Japan earlier this month.

The Port of Tacoma will build a $300 million, 168-acre (68-hectare) container terminal on the industrial east side of Tacoma's Blair Waterway. The terminal will be leased to a container terminal operator, Yusen Terminal Tacoma Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NYK Line. (Click here to read the entire story)

The Raku vessel is 27” tall and 14” wide and was hand thrown and carved in relief with a design created by Mathie. The piece is titled “United Passage” and abstractly symbolizes the passage from one place to another with a body of water in between, but the whole design is connected to symbolize unity, togetherness and cooperation. (See pictures of vessel in process at left.)

Mathie delivered the Raku piece to the Port and it was crated and shipped immediately to get it to Japan in time for the document signing.

Artist Statement

I see my paintings as kind of dream like states exploring memories and myths within my mind. As I work I try to allow the pieces to emerge from my subconscious. I do not start with any preconceived idea of what each series is about. I tend to work in many layers using opaque washes in some areas to cover and simplify and transparent glazes in some areas to reveal. I begin with a full composition in the gesso (or primer) layer creating heavy textures with palette knives and brushes. A second layer is usually random color flows and shapes. I work incredibly fast, bouncing from one canvas to the next adding and subtracting with little need to control my marks. I know these early layers will evolve, which gives me great freedom to express...

After drying over night I look at the paintings with fresh eyes and evaluate them for color dominance, structure, visual path, focal point, and value patterns (light and dark). I look for strong continuity between the pieces and see if a link is present that could form a series. I then begin to paint again — now with a little more thought but still shifting from canvas to canvas so that each piece evolves at the same time. I look at individual sections of the canvas for areas that work and do not work separately from the whole. Several more sittings occur, allowing the pieces to dry before the next layer is added.

Sometimes ideas pop into my head while painting, titles and phrases... I jot them down so that I can look at the pieces when they are finished and see if the titles still fit. Having some vague idea in mind what the pieces are about helps me to explore emotions and feelings while I paint. I do not worry about having any concrete meanings though because I intend the meanings to be as abstract as the paintings themselves. This also allows the viewer to bring their own experiences and interpretations to the work. I don't like to spoon feed my viewers.

Enjoy!

—Christopher Mathie

Christopher Mathie has truly established himself as a three dimensional Raku artist working in clay. However, taking advantage of scholarships for art school at the University of Puget Sound in Washington State, and prolifically devouring painting, drawing, pottery, sculpture and print making allowed him the opportunity to explore many mediums in order to find his artistic voice. By the time he graduated in 1994 with honors in art he had already achieved significant recognition from Seattle area galleries. And now both private and corporate collectors purchase his Raku sculpture and pottery and his abstract expressionist paintings.

Christopher's first years as an artist were spent exploring the Japanese tradition of Raku. In clay he became known for hand-thrown pottery, beautifully symmetrical, technical forms that were intricately carved with textures and patterns depicting nature. The pieces were glazed with swirling Raku colors — greens, coppers and golds with smoked areas, richly natural and compelling. But after years of working in clay and Raku firing he began to wonder if these beautifully organic characteristics could be captured two-dimensionally? He began to paint large acrylic abstracts that soon became more complex and rich with line and texture. He realized he was painting the appearance of his clay work. But in paint he could work even more boldly and expressively and found painting extremely large pieces allowed him to explore feelings and emotions in a new way. He began stapling large pieces of muslin to the wall, on which he could literally explode with energy!

Now in his mid thirties, Mathie has exhibited in over seventy galleries and has a long list of collectors and achievements. Both Mathie’s ceramics and paintings are currently represented by major U.S. galleries in California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.