Matty Smith
Family, 2025
33.5 cm x 33 cm
Matty Smith
Dancing the Reds II, 2025
50 cm x 49 cm
Matty Smith’s Artist Statement
I dream; I watch; I see; I plan; I explore; I experiment…. I weave. Repeat. Although I have been informally involved in textile activities for over three decades, including embroidery, hand spinning, hand dyeing, and weaving of cloth, I seriously engaged with tapestry weaving in 2008. Largely self-taught, but with additional support through attending courses at West Dean College and elsewhere, I have found tapestry enables my creativity to find expression. Tapestry has a unique characteristic of combining opportunistic spontaneity whilst developing in a very measured way over time. It goes beyond the two-dimensional constraints of fine art, allowing texture, depth, and ‘substance’ to be embedded in the finished piece to create a distinctive ‘presence’. Whilst much of my work draws on observation of everyday life, I am increasingly extending my ideas into more conceptual pieces and three-dimensional weaving as well as exploring collaboration with traditional artists through re-interpretation of their work and AI plays a growing part in my toolkit of design tools.
