OUTSIDE

Stepping out the back of the gallery onto the expansive Hydrangea shaded deck results in a moment of realization and discovery that is difficult to describe.  Mattie has unified his home, property, and studio into an impressive sculpture garden, an artistic masterwork in the spirit of the Spanish sculptor and architect, Antonio Gaudi.  Once outdoors, the scale of the works grows as if nurtured by the sun.  Nature and art become one, and it is only through close examination that the components of the complex scene that greets the first time visitor begin to come clear.

The largest single piece on the property is the gigantic urn pictured below.  Set in a prominent position between Mattie's log home and the studio, it is unique among Mattie's works in its scale, heavy surface texture, and abstract rectilinear design.  The vessel stands approximately 14 feet tall, so large that even in Mattie's huge kiln it was necessary to fire the work in pieces. 

From the back porch of the studio, the property slopes upward across a tree studded hillside.  Mattie has transformed the space through thousands of hours of work into a unique artistic environment that would not be out of place in Lewis Carol's Wonderland.  Ceramics on a huge scale dot the landscape, intertwined with fieldstone construction accented by glass, stone, and ceramic found objects.  Directly behind the studio, slightly higher on the hillside, is Mattie's impressive log home with ample decks and massive fieldstone chimney topped off with a ceramic pig. The unifying feature of the sculpture garden is the fieldstone wall, an awe inspiring work in progress.

  The wall is constructed from carefully chosen and beautifully formed stones, hand blown glass, broken ceramics, works contributed by other artists, and a number of unique vessels created especially for inclusion in the wall. 

  Among its many features the wall includes an urn large enough for several people to sit in, a hot tub, a flagpole, and a magnificent arch.  The wall meanders across the property, beginning behind Mattie's log home, and winding downhill to its termination beyond one of its most impressive features, the Chinese Arch. 

The wall is a fusion of art, architecture, and joyful personal expression, constructed from countless ceramic, glass, and stone found objects, many of which are artistic in themselves, or have symbolic meaning.  Groupings of objects set in the wall's surface are compositions of their own. The saxephone shown here spews glass like a cacophony of colorful notes, a fitting metaphor for the complex composition that makes up its parts.  A similar composition using a French horn is the starting point for the wall, giving the impression that the entire structure is flowing from the mouth of the horn like free form notes in a jam session.