News and Awards

When Tacoma artist Matthew Scott debuted at his first exhibit in 2008 at the (now defunct) Lark Gallery downtown, he was in a very different place than he is now mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Having returned home from battlefields in Afghanistan, this former Air Force Staff Sergeant was himself in shock and awe after participating in the U.S. military campaign of the same name that opened the war.

“We were the ‘shock and awe’ campaign. The very first bombs that dropped were from us,” he said. Reeling from that experience, Scott returned home deeply affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which he still works to manage to this day. However, there was one positive factor that came from his wartime experiences – he discovered the healing power of art.

Three years ago at that first exhibit, Scott’s paintings reflected his inner turmoil and “stuff” to process – an “emotional diary,” he called the collection – as he worked through the memories of war. Fast-forward to 2011 and his new collection of paintings now hanging in the Mandolin Café speak a very different story – one of personal growth and sweet liberation from the prison of grief and regret.

Like mirror images of Scott’s healing, his works in this second art show resonate with a painterly embrace of life’s mysteries, wonders and joys. Many of the paintings are of large size and filled from edge to edge with vibrant colors, fantastical creatures and layers of meaning.

Scott’s favorite among the collection is “Sunny With a Chance of Disaster.” In it a winged Sun God, representing those unseen, intangible mysteries of the universe, gazes upon three colored pyramids that represent the three aspects of humanity. A red pyramid represents the mind that tries to explain and rationalize things – it shoots arrows into the wings of the mythical god whose fingers on one hand seems to indicate, “You’re about this close to getting a taste of this knife I’m holding.” The green pyramid, with its ravenous teeth and hungry tongue, represents the body, and the blue pyramid is the spirit – that larger, overall entity that maintains a distinct presence no matter our physical expressions and thoughts.

As a whole, “Sunny With a Chance of Disaster” illustrates the way Scott sees the world – albeit in this case through an animated, cartoonish filter. In fact, all of his paintings relate his innermost thoughts and dreams, leading him to offer a collection in this new exhibit that shows the freedom and blind acceptance he’s practicing in both his art and in his life.
Not all of his works are as deep and full of meaning, though. Scott’s show also includes a few animal paintings for children. “I’m a father, and sometimes I see people who are looking for art for their kids and there aren’t too many options out there,” he said. His work titled “Business Down South” is at once whimsical and amusing. “It’s nice to just be able to paint a picture of a bird with a man’s head,” he laughed. He even painted his dog Louie playing the drums for a band called The Good Boys.
Scott said he is hopeful that one day he can fully support himself through his art – but if not, he’ll keep painting anyway. “I do know this: It is my ship. It’s grown from a life raft into a ship, with the ocean beneath me and the sky above me and islands out there to discover…and I’m never going to jump overboard.”

Chainsaw artist Tomas Vrba reconstructs lion
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isj/lifestyle/109287094.html

Kelly Lyles Receives Conductive Garboil Grant

Artist Trust, 4Culture and the Estate of Su Job are thrilled to announce that Kelly Lyles is the 2010 recipient of the Conductive Garboil Grant!

The Conductive Garboil Grant is an annual non-restricted award of $3,000 that acknowledges Seattle artists with a connection to Pioneer Square who have "demonstrated a profound ability to challenge the limits of conductive creative discourse and its effects on our society, pushing the creative act beyond the accepted limits, definitions, or purposes of art while engaging audiences outside the aesthetic industrial complex."

Kelly Lyles
http://www.kellyspot.com
(206) 937-2058
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uLGpsszc3I

Karol Williams: Seattle Art Invitational

http://seattletwist.com/2010/07/27/mystic-sons-of-morris-graves-seattle-lodge-93-hosts-morris-graves-centenary-invitational-art-exhibition-seance/

Puget Sound “Gets CRUSHED” this October with
ARTS CRUSH

Press Release

Here’s your chance to walk Friday night’s Seattle Summer Streets/Greenwood-Phinney Art Up Artwalk from the comfort of your chair. In less than 3 minutes, you’ll see how people took over Greenwood Avenue for a few hours to do everything from high-speed skateboard slalom racing, to knitting, to blowing bubbles and seranading passers by with everything from Hip-Hop to Ravel’s Bolero.And, of course, kids of all ages drawing with chalk on a canvas stretching from curb to curb.

YVONNE PALERMO

HERE IS MY RADIO INTERVIEW FROM TODAY JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED ANY OF IT, OR NEED TO PASS ON TO ANYONE INTERESTED, OR WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ME AND WHERE MY ART STEMS FROM? MUCH APPRECIATED AND THANKS FOR SUPPORTING ME!