Throughout the semester, we’re shining a light on the Art Department’s graduating MFA candidates as they present their final thesis exhibitions. These exhibitions are the culmination of years of dedicated study and artistic exploration, showcasing our students’ diverse talents and innovative approaches to art-making.
“I utilize a variety of skills gained through each chapter of my life to bring together any material I can get my hands on to make my point,” says artist Matthew Everett, whose thesis exhibition, “The Grindstone Campaign,” was on view in UW–Madison’s Art Lofts Gallery Jan. 20–26. “Recently the point I am trying to make is that skills and knowledge should be used for the benefit of community.”
Everett expands on this idea: “Natural knowledge, moral codes and actions, care and mending, self esteem and craft, and finally knowledge and education all benefit those in a community. ‘The Grindstone Campaign’ aims to create a space that can hone the skills of individuals so that they may spread their benefits. ‘The Grindstone Campaign’ centers around the idea that hand skills and knowledge translate to a thriving community.”
Everett shares more about his work, below.
Tell us about your exhibition.
“The Grindstone Campaign HQ and Trading Post” was an installation of various materials to create a space for me, the Madison Cutler of the Grindstone Campaign, to work and relax in while interacting with the public and explaining the various tenets of the campaign and the roles they could take up in it.
What inspired you to create this work?
For a long time I had anxiety about the future, societal collapse, and death in general. I decided it does me no good to worry and do nothing, so I chose to think in a hopeful way and imagine myself on the other side and helping others in the process.
How did you create it?
I just looked around at what the world was offering via trades or trash, and made what I could get for free or very little work for my needs.
Check out Everett’s Instagram page to see more from “The Grindstone Campaign.”