Matthew Barter Is Leading the Way for the Next Generation of Maine Folk Artists

I have with me artist, Matt part. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. Let's Start with this piece behind me. I, I feel like I have a man on my shoulder. Tell me what the name of it is. Uh, This one is called lunch pale. Uh, he's all ready to go out to work. He's got his bucket where he keeps his lunch and dry clothing if he needs it. And he is about to head out and go to work. You have a lot of, um, I guess working waterfront type themes in the art that you do. Yeah. I was raised on the water in French and bay working on the boat with my dad when I was a kid and it just kind of came natural and I moved away for a bit from Maine when I was first married, came back from Portland, Oregon, actually from the city, moved right back to like the Sullivan area and went right to work on a lobster boat. And that was a huge like mind shift. And I really appreciated it more from being in the city, moving back to the country. And, uh, and then I just sort of started pulling in all of the imagery and the culture and the stories, which I've been drawing from for the last 10 years. So do you, when you say you're drawing in the stories, do you actually go out and talk to people or are you talking like kind of the visual story that you're perceiving when you're in a situation? I think it's more visual. I don't do specific stories per se. Like my dad does narratives, which are basically like, this is this certain fishermen and this is, was his character, and this is what he did. I'm sort of speaking more painting and more generalities, bigger stories that are just more encompassing, I guess. That's the difference. So the story of this individual with his lunch pale is that he's kind of getting ready to go out and start the day. And Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this would be sort of you more of my story. I had a home Depot bucket that with a, like one of those rubber sealed lids and I'd keep my lunch in there and it worked really great. You know, I had the guy that ran the boat, had one of those Coleman, um, thermos. It was like one of those food things that what, every time I, my friend would pick it up, he'd hit the button in his food would fall out. And when I saw that, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna get a bucket and kept my clothes and my food dry while I worked on the boat. And so this is sort of a reflective one of myself. Um, I guess when you're a fisherman, the hardest part of the day, just like with any job is like first thing in the morning when you get down to the pier and it's like blown really hard and it's bitter cold. And you're like, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I wanna do this, but then you get out there and you get to work and it's not as bad as you think. So that's an interesting hurdle that you're describing that one would have to overcome in order to be a fisherman, as opposed to many people who just work in an office and their hardest hurdle is, you know, getting through the Starbucks drive through lane or something, you know, on a Monday. Right? Yeah. It's a different mindset. I mean, a lot of times we go down early in the morning at like five in the morning and we'd sit around the pier and we watch to see how hard the wind was blowing and you decide, okay, is it worth going out and getting beat half to death by the wind and waves? You know, or what should we wait a day? You know, let 'em set another day. So it's like, that was something we did a lot, you know, most of the time we decided to go. Um, and so you go out and you get thrashed around all day and come home, pretty dog tired, I guess. Yeah. That sounds like a, a hard existence, a hard way to make A living. Yeah, I did it for two years and that was as much as I had in made it do it. Um, we, then we moved to Southern Maine, which I didn't have any connection to any of the peers or the boat. So I just went into another field. I did started my own house, painting business, and always all along the way, doing my own art. And, uh, and, and now it's become my life. Basically. I just gave up the painting business and focused on painting and sculpting. Now, At what point did you feel like you had the, um, I guess the, the momentum to, to make this your full-time profession In a way? I feel like it was decided for me, I was working on a job working on this tricky house with this side of the house that was kind of on a cliff and the ladder kicked out on me and I fell and shattered my left heel. And basically can't go on ladders, which is most of what painters do cuz of my foot injury. So from there I kind of just kept my business going, but more or less was doing art and making art and sculpting and finally gave up the business last year. And this is what I do now Has that it required any sort of a change in the way that you look at your art. Do you feel like you have to put more hours in, do you feel like you have to look at it more from a business perspective or have you basically just kind of continued to do more of what you were already doing? Uh, I think it's, uh, motivated me to be more productive, I guess you could say. And, and, uh, kind of dial in my focus, I guess you could say. Um, yeah, it is, it it's a business. You have to look at it that way, but I try not to. Um, I think a lot of times, sometimes, well, sometimes artists get the, sort of the wa the dog effect where the tail wags the dog and you, I want to, I wanna say, keep focused on the direction I want to go in. I don't want people to decide where my art focus goes. You know, I don't wanna pander, I guess, is the word I'm looking for. That's my goal. So It, I would, I would imagine then that would mean you, you don't do commissions. I do commissions. Sometimes. Sometimes someone will see a piece that's sold and they'll say, oh, I really wanted that piece. If it's in my ability to recreate it, sometimes I will. Um, that's, that's basically the most commissions that I do. Okay. So when you say it, tail that wags a dog, it's not like if you, if somebody said, oh, these this type of painting that you're creating is selling really well. You should just do a lot of those all the time. That's, that's what you mean. Yeah. Basically. Do you feel like that happens a lot in art and for people who are trying to kind of make it as an artist? It can. I think, I think it can. And you, um, you, I think you have to have a, a driving force and say, okay, this is the direction I want to go in. And if people like it then good. And if they don't, then I have to have this sort of conviction to know that eventually it'll be appreciated. Tell me about growing up with a father as an artist. That was cool. You know, I didn't really appreciate it at the time. It's like, you just take it for granted, right? Like you might imagine, uh, he was a very unique sort of artist because he was a working man as well. Cuz he had all these crazy kids and he had to feed us all. So he would work, you know, a nine to five or actually like on the water you work when the tide comes and the tide goes, so he worked really hard at that, but he always had an easel and he always was painting and, and I would go with him on his trips to drop off paintings at the galleries and I would see how the galleries would react when he would drop off the paintings. Like they were really special, I could tell. And uh, so it was a really odd kind of way to grow up because my dad would take me to museums and different things. And I remember like my classmates, they were just, you know, they had no idea what art was. I mean, this was, you know, Sullivan, Maine down east. They were more interested in, you know, four-wheelers and dirt bikes and , you know, whatever , things like that, you know, and I was, I was into art from a young age and most of my classmates had no idea what that really was. Was it, um, was it easy to get the type of education that you needed to move your art forward? Uh, well I think I, I'm not sure what you mean. I was, I was homeschooled from eighth grade on, so I did, I did my high school from home, my high school education from home, which, you know, I didn't really, I didn't really learn much from that. I think I learned much more from my life experience. And then when it came to art study, I really kind of dived into art studies and found PLA you know, points in time that I really appreciated, I guess you could say, would start with Vango and sort of comes forward from there. Um, skips ahead to the, you know, the American modernness and you know, so I did a lot of my own studies cuz I was excited about it. It's like if you, if you're hungry for something, that's what you will search out and seek out. And then I found artists that I really liked that, you know, maybe even my dad didn't really like, and I kind of glomed and attach myself to those artists and sort of what saw what made them tick and uh, you know, drew from those sources, I guess, Give me an example of an artist that, that you found very appealing and your father, maybe didn't like as much. Uh, let's see. Um, well we have a lot of the same to pace for sure. And uh, we appreciate a lot of the same artists, but there were some artists that maybe aren't even on my dad's radar, like, uh, sculptures, I guess, cuz I do painting and sculpting. So, um, there's a female artist, Lee Bonta who does these amazing like wire and ceramic mobs just like PHY room basically. And um, I geeked out on her art for a long time and then, you know, different ones that trying to think of some painters that I like that well, my dad really never really appreciated Warhol and because he was a, you know, glorified print, it maker kind of used his popularity to sell thousands of prints basically. But you know, I really appreciate that because I understand that he knew what he was doing. You know, it wasn't an accident that he used his fame to sling posters basically. And I actually like his too. So I mean that's basically, I think where my dad sort of stops is sort of like right at the American modernist and then, you know, the pop art right on through it's like he could take it or leave it, I guess. You know? So the, the sculpture piece, when did that go, come in in your Trajectory that kind of happened organically as well. I think I was living in Oregon and I was painting in oils and I got kicked outta my studio. I think they sold the building or something. And then I ended up working in the basement of this apartment that I rented, but then I realized that these fumes are really bad and they were, and I was in the basement. So the fumes were just going right up through the floor and it didn't take me long to realize, you know, this was not a neighborly thing to be doing to my neighbors. So then I was in construction, I was working in construction. We were doing a lot of demolition and I had all this like scraps of wood that it were just lying around. And when you talk about wood in, in the west coast, you have like clear vertical grain, fur Douglas fur, which is just like they burn it. I don't even, they don't care anything. It, so when we'd tear out some beams, it'd be like eight by eight dimensional fur beams and I could just take whatever I wanted. So I started carving into those and kind of plate with those cuz I couldn't paint because of the fumes. So I just started sculpting just to have fun with it. And then I quickly realized that, you know, going from one to two dimension is a whole nother ball game . So I went into back into my sketchbook and I started sketching from a few different angles. So I could kind of capture what I wanted to capture You brought in a piece today. Yeah. That, um, is very interesting and it actually compliments the piece behind. Tell me about this one. Uh, well I, I wanted to make some smaller pieces. Um, I found that most of my pieces are around the 24 to 20 inch size. And what I really appreciate is like a shelf. That's kind of like a curated shelf, which I think is fun right now. And they, none of my sculptures would fit on any of those shelves. And so in my studio I have a shelf that I keep some inspirational items on. And so I said, you know what, what's a good size for the shelf. So I figured eight inches and smaller. So I made a bunch of eight inch and smaller pieces. And then I was like, these are kind of like toys. So I called them at my action figures downies to action figures. And so that's kind of what I made, I made about 20 of 'em and you know, just a lot of 'em are, they're almost like little kids actually. So they look like they're running around and doing whatever. But yeah, I, I was raised on action figures and so the fun thing about action figures, they always came with like little things, this expansion pieces, whatever they were. And so then I started making those, I made a little chainsaw, a few other things. So yeah. Do you think that people are more accepting of sculpture now for their homes than maybe they once were? Yeah, I, I think so. Definitely. Um, I hope so. I mean, sculptures are, can be an important, you know, feature in a house. Um, I think back in the day, people are more into like antiques, I guess, decorating with antiques, maybe some African tribal art or something and that's all great, but I think, you know, decorating with modern sculpture is more exciting, you know, especially if you get to know the artists and you get to meet them and you know, I think contemporary art is the thing, you know, by art, from living artists, keep the ball rolling basically. Is it more important now for people connect to the artists that create the work that they have in their homes and their spaces? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I mean, if you can get to know the person, get to meet them, go out to the openings and you know, find out who they are and, and then you get to appreciate the art a little bit more. You know, I think that kind of dawned on me a long time ago when I, I went into an art show, I think it was, um, Louis neon it, an art show at the Portland museum of art. And I went in and I was like, this is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Just a bunch of wooden blocks, just plastered all to other. And I was walking through and then I happened to stop at one of those little things where it kind of gives you the life story. I started reading it and I was like, wow, this, this lady was pretty cool. And then I just read more and then I got into it and I got into the story of her life. And then I went back to the show and I was like, you know what, this is some really good, amazing art. And that, you know, that kind of just tells you that, you know, if you see something, you don't understand it, maybe you even hate it, you know, try to find out who, the person who made it was and then it sort of, it makes it more, um, approachable for you I guess. So I interviewed Dick Alden back ways. And then after talking to Dick, I think I had such an appreciation for the work that he did with stone and how he crafted his pieces and how his mind worked. So for me, um, you're right. When I, now what I look at the pieces that we have, we have one of his pieces in our garden. It just always, it, it there's a whole context around it. It's not just kind of a static, something that I don't know that maybe we bought at home goods, not, we don't actually do do that, but I mean, that's, I think that's what, you know, you're saying, I Totally agree. You know, when I go into target and I see their sculpture area, I'm like really people, you know, will spend $25 on a sculpture at target and put it in their home and, and have a connection to that thing that who knows who made it, who designed it, you know? And then you see stuff that's clearly been ripped off. You know, you see Robert Indiana's L O V E. I mean, it's, it's everywhere. I was at Goodwill the other day and I actually bought one of his L love, you know, I bought one because I was like, this is amazing. I mean, it was, clearly a rip off, but it made me laugh. I was like, this is, this is funny because it's secondhand for one thing. And um, I put it in my studio to remind me, you know, that everyone gets ripped off basically eventually. Yeah. I can see how as an artist, that would be a really kind of a painful thing to think about. Yeah. I, I know, you know what it is. It's like if, if an artist like emulates someone and they say, you know what, I love this artist. I'm gonna use some of the, this, the features from this, this painting and create my own version of this. That's kind of a part of the, the, the, I call it a link in the chain of art that goes all the way back to, you know, pre-history. And so, but there's the other aspect of that where someone will a company will say, oh, I like this art. I'm just gonna take this imagery. And it's like, oh, there's almost no real recourse for an artist when it comes to that. So that that's, that's the bummer part of it, I guess. Yeah. It's true that when you create something, it's not just kind of the, the time spent in the, of creation itself, it's all of the things that led up to being in that space, where you are creating, it's all the studying that you did, of various people and their techniques and their contexts and going to the museums. And it's all kind of the aggregate of your, you know, your knowledge that goes into the work that you do. So to have somebody just say, oh, that looks good. I'm gonna to take a copy of that. Yeah, no, it is. It's not great. I, I think William phone put it best when he, when someone was trying to pry him about how long it took to paint a painting, I think they're trying to get a deal. They were like, if I find out how long it took him to paint this, maybe I can get him down to an hourly rate or some nonsense. And they said, how long did it take you to paint this? And that it took me my whole life to paint this because a painting has your entire life's experience behind it in order to accomplish that painting. I think I had this epiphany not too long ago, I was looking at a Vango, you know, one of my favorites, maybe I was looking at starry night and I was thinking to myself, this painting was an inevitable result for everyone, except for the artist. You know, within that moment, the painting could have gone a perfect success like it did, or it could have been a terrible failure. And so when we look at something, a painting, we say, oh, well, that's obvious why he did that because that is pure. Jean is, but in the moment, it's like, there's no guarantee that it's gonna turn out. I, I feel like that's a, that's something that a lot of people struggle with that, you know, that you, you don't always proceed forward with certainty that you are, especially in art. You know, it's, it's not like somebody says at work well, here's, we need you to reach these metric goals. And, you know, and at the end of the day, there's your gold star you're successful in, in art. Sure. You can set a goal to create a painting or a sculpture, but that's, it's, you're not really sure. Kind of when you've gotten to that. So you've gotten to that space. Yeah. I think you you're describing the, you know, the, do the, the blank canvas. I mean, that's like dooms, so many people, they stare at it and they're like, yeah, I'm not up to this. I can't do it. And I think the way that my dad helped me to get over that was don't stare at a blank canvas line up 10 canvases and just start painting right across all of them, you know? And I think that helped me to realize, you know, it's not about the individual piece, it's about developing, uh, a series. And then once you look at art from that way, then it's like, okay, well, this is a series of a stand of trees and there's 10 of those. And then you move on, this is a series of paintings of an island that I like. And then, you know, when you do that, you learn so much more than just focusing on one piece, you focus on one piece and it can be like a challenge to create that starry night. When you look at Vango, he painted 800, 900 paintings. And so, you know, maybe more so, you know, that's the thing that you have to remember. You're not gonna paint starry night from one blank canvas. You gotta just, you gotta go through hundreds. Do you think it's also the investment that people have to make in order to line up those canvases and work at something over time and really kind of struggle with the uncertainty of the Process? Yeah. There's a huge investment, you know, uh, there's the financial investment of, you know, time and money to set up your studio to set up your easel, your paints, uh, there's the emotional investment of, you know, I'm gonna throw myself into this and, you know, people are gonna say the craziest things to me, you know, and think that I'm a fool or whatever. So there's, there is a huge investment involved in deciding to that route. I think it's also, um, you know, as someone who writes, you know, and when I sit there and I, I write something and then I think, well, that was really good, but now I'm gonna have to throw out half of it because it's only, only half of it is, or maybe even less, maybe only a few words of what I've written actually has any merit. So it's this idea that you have to be okay with discarding things that come, come through at first. Um, I don't know at first word at first paint, you know, brush stroke or whatever it is, but that's not easy that to be able to let go of things. Yeah. I think you, you have to be very critical in your thinking and you can't, um, view everything you do as a masterpiece. I think when you see a painting like this, I mean like what you described you go through and you edit out half the words, right. Because they don't, you can do it better simply. Right. And so with this, there's like three or four layers under this final layer that you can't really see that build up the color to this point. A lot of times this painting will have been painted over a couple of times. You'll paint something in the moment. You're like, wow, this is great. And you look back at it and you're like, you know what? Just paint right over it, you know, and move on. And I think, um, some artists can get hung up on, um, a painting and my dad will always tell me, he said, you know, one bad painting will take down 10 good ones. So if you have a, if you have a show with 10 amazing paintings and you've got that one, that's just terrible, you know, people are gonna be like, you know, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. , he's a hack basically. So you kind of want to edit that one out. And if, and if you have CRI, if you're good at critical thinking and, uh, being decisive, then you'll get, find that one and just brush it out. What is it like as you're describing this and having a show, for example, where it's all your own work, it's kind of carefully curated from your collection and it's, it represents you, what is it like to be in a gallery space with other artists whose work may or may not be very similar to yours just to kind of see that all come together or not? Uh, it it's, it's an in interesting thought, you know, I, I like it. It's, it's nice to be in a group show and have your colleagues right there. It's nice. Uh, it's different a little bit, because, you know, in, in a one man show, you get to create the environment. And when someone goes in, they walk away with a feeling, you know, I think basically like an art installation is like providing someone with an experience. But if you go into a group show, it's like, what's the experience. Okay. It's kind of like you're, but in that way, you get to be drawn to the one, the artists that you like, you know, naturally. So I think that's, that's a good thing. It seems like can some of the group shows that I've been to, or even some of the museum spaces that I've been to, where you have one artist and another artist and another artist, the, the work almost needs to talk to itself. It needs to, there needs to be a crosstalk. There needs to be a contrast and a complementary nest that I don't think that's a word, but, um, there would be interest to, to achieve. It takes a different mindset. I think if you're gonna be the one curating a group show. Yeah. I mean, I like with Portland art gallery, I mean, it must be, it's a struggle. I'm sure sometimes to put different shows together. Um, but that takes a different sort of genius. I think that's, that's a cur curator gallerist sort of mindset of, okay. Do we wanna put people similar together or do we wanna create contrast? I mean, there's a lot of different thoughts to that, I guess, but it is interesting to see a show come together. Uh, whenever I hang a show, I like to lean all the paintings up against the wall, instead of hanging one, taking it down, hanging another, taking it down, I lean 'em up against the wall so that I can move stuff around without putting a bunch of holes in the wall, which is never great. But yeah, it's, I think it's a different mindset when you're in a group show, how do you put it together? I think some group artists naturally are group well together. Like you see certain artists set of a similar vein, the way they create their process and their colors and style. Do you learn from other artists when you are kind of interacting in a, in a gallery setting, whether just by looking at their art and thinking of, does it cause you to think about your art differently? Or is it just kind of, well, there's that, person's art, here's my art, here's that person. I get to know them. This is who I am. Does. Is there ever an evolution of kind of the work that you do in relationship to other people? I don't know if don't think about it that much. I think I like to get to know other artists though. It's kind of nice to meet other artists and hear their story and see how they work and their process and everything like that. So, yeah, I don't think of it. Like I go into a show and say, okay, I'm gonna specifically learn something from I artist in this group. I'm mean, inevitably, I think you do. I mean, we're all kind of Sping things in as we look through stuff and see stuff, but I go into it just, you know, I wanna meet people and I met some nice, interesting artists, uh, at the last show that I was at. I didn't meet them, I've known them, but I got the chance to talk to them and it was nice because then you say, okay, that's why they do what they do. That's why they paint the way they do. And so it's, it's good. You and your wife, Rebecca recently happened to cross a, a property kind of fell outta the sky as you described it? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Tell Me about that. Well, it's like straight on Frenchman's bay, which I was raised on, so it kind of feels like I'm coming home and, uh, we happen to be driving down towards scoot. We, um, we live in Brunswick, so we wanna get down east whenever we can. And so we, our friends built a, one of those geodesic dome, like things it's like a glamping thing. And so we, uh, they said we could stay there for the weekend and it in Holden, it overlooks this beautiful lake. So we stayed there and we're like, you know, let's take a day trip to Schick and we're driving to Schick. And I was driving by shore road in gobo. And I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna show my sons, the PI that I fished out of. And, uh, we turned down the road and we see this little for sale by owner sign. And it, um, like you said, it kind of fell out of the sky and we called and we called our realtor and she said, that's a good deal. You should, you should go for it. So we kind of did, and it's been two months of, uh, hectic life right now, but we're finally got to the point where, or we can, uh, go up and stay up there. And it looks, that looks, it looks over the, um, this old lobster pound and there's a old Sarine cannery building that someone turned into a residence. So just visiting there, it just, it, I feel like I'm gonna be able to draw a lot of vitality for my art out of space, for sure. And how do your kids feel about it? They're excited. Um, my youngest he's sort of adventurous type, so I'm expecting him to jump in the kayak and head out and explore some of the islands, which are mostly abandoned still up there. And my oldest, he he's excited too. He's, he's more, um, he likes to be at his house in his comfort zone, but we've set him up a room that feels a lot like his space at home. So I think he's gonna like it. Matt really enjoyed our conversation today and I've long enjoyed your work. So to actually have a chance, as you've said to have a conversation about it is very, um, it's really been a pleasure. Well, thank you, likewise, nice to come out and visit and see your space as well. And, um, it's good conversation. I've been speaking with artist, Matt. I encourage you to go into the Portland art gallery and interact with some of his sculptures, which are really quite wonderful and his art and, um, go on the Portland art gallery website to see more of the work he creates. Um, it really is the kind of art that you wanna bring into your home. Especially if you have a love of Maine. Matt, thanks for coming in today. Thank you.