Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Bird.
Matthew, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
From a very early age, I knew that I wanted to be an artist. Even though there are no artists in my family, my parents embraced and nurtured my love for drawing. At the same time, they were concerned with my difficulty learning to read. I was diagnosed with dyslexia at age seven, and getting through school was never easy. My mother used to tell me, “One day you will get to do what you love.” It took years of hard work, but I mastered the great literary classics and to this day, enjoy reading. I do think that this obstacle during my formative years was instrumental in my drive to not accept labels and to fight for what you want.
My parents always encouraged me in my pursuit of art. In high school, we wrote to Walt Disney to find out where they hire their artists from, thinking they would recruit from the best schools. Pratt Institute offered a partial scholarship and I really wanted to study in New York. I was pursuing a career in illustration thinking that was a good way to make a living as an artist. I also had schooling in design and photography, so like many artists, I began working part-time as a graphic designer to bring in extra money.
This temporary arrangement turned into a career path, and a decade later I was an Associate Creative Director in a large agency. I was burnt out, unhappy, and barely painting at all. This was around the time that my wife and I were expecting our first child, which actually became the catalyst to leave my full-time position so I could be home more and try to figure out what it meant to be an artist.
My wife is pretty amazing. Being married to an artist isn’t easy, and I wouldn’t be where I am without her love and support. In addition, it was when I started to paint my wife and children that my art stepped up to a new level. A pivot point in my career came when I painted a portrait of my daughter titled “Lost In Thought.”
I entered the piece in the National Watercolor Society’s International Exhibition in 2014 and received one of the top awards. I have to admit that I was very naïve at this time, and did not appreciate what a big deal this was. I almost didn’t go to California for the opening, but thankfully my wife convinced me that it would be a mistake not to. How right she was!
It was at that opening that I made some amazing friends, including Fort Worth artist Laurin McCracken. He invited me to participate in an international show in Italy, alongside some of the greatest watercolorists in America.
It’s opportunities like this that require you to aim high and strive for excellence. My work would either fit in with these great artists or fail spectacularly! In this case, the painting was a success, but it isn’t always that way. That’s part of being an artist; putting yourself out there and learning as you go.
Since that time, I’ve had award winning paintings exhibited in shows across the United States, as well as in Canada, China, Greece, Hong Kong, and Italy. My work has been featured twice in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine as one of “Today’s Masters,” Watercolor Magazine as “One To Watch,” The Artist’s Magazine, The Art Of Watercolour Magazine, and Splash “best of watercolor.”
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are so many challenges, one of the biggest being how to make a living as a professional artist. That’s really what kept me from pursuing a fine art career early on and I don’t think there’s enough education upfront. There’s more emphasis on the skill and craft than on business and finance.
The first hurdle is that art is notoriously undervalued, so right out of the gate, it’s an uphill battle. Unless you have another way to support yourself, art has to be seen as a business, which many artists don’t want to do. There’s a common dichotomy that most artists face, and it’s where the idea of “starving artist” comes from. The notion that making money with your art dilutes the purity of your work or makes you a “sell out.”
I think the idea that, “If your work is good enough, success will follow” is incorrect. I’m not saying that it never happens, but when it does, its usually genius level talent and originality that most of us don’t have. Bottom line: people are not going to just find your work and pay lots of money for it. You have to sell it.
Being successful as an artist today requires marketing, which is not something creative types are generally good at. There are really poor artists that are incredibly successful simply because they are good at marketing. And incredibly talented artists that struggle because they don’t put enough time into strategic planning.
There’s a big learning curve as well, and results don’t happen overnight. It’s helpful to remember that it takes time to become a good art maker, and it takes time to learn how to be a profit maker as well. I learned a great deal from my time in the marketing world, so I had a jump on things when I turned to my own small business. Patience and perseverance are needed to execute a long-term plan.
Another challenge I point to, especially when talking to young people, is what society calls my “learning disability.” I no longer think I’m a prisoner of my dyslexia. But for far too long I tried to overcompensate, wanting to be someone I wasn’t. I think the fight to say that “I’m not stupid” distorted me a great deal and I’m sometimes haunted by the ghosts of that stigma to this day.
But I don’t think I have a learning disability. God made me this way, I just learn differently. I realize that while I have to work extra hard in some areas to keep up, there are other areas where I excel. It’s hard to have this perspective when you are young because many fields where children excel are not areas of serious focus in traditional education. You don’t need “straight A’s” to be successful, so I try to tell kids not to get discouraged.
What else should we know about your artwork?
I’m a fine art watercolor painter, known for my realistic style and attention to detail. The subject matter of my figure and still life paintings communicate my deep love and respect for nature and life. Some paintings stem from a joy or narrative that is from my own experiences. Other pieces reflect the simple beauty I find in everyday objects composed together. I have focused on developing my craft to capture the beauty of what surrounds me with precision and clarity and strive to convey that to all people through the universal language of representational art. It is my desire that when others see my work, they may be inspired by the perceptible signs of the real Creator.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
As a Christian, I give the credit to God. He’s the real Creator and I am committed to producing works of art that reflect His glory and the dignity of mankind. It’s an incredible privilege to be able to make others happy through art, for which I am very grateful.
As far as mentors, Laurin McCracken has been a great advocate as well. He took a chance on me, inviting me to exhibit on a world stage, and his encouragement put wind in my sails and inspired me to pursue my goals.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1355 Becket Road
Sykesville, MD 21784 - Website: matthewbird.com
- Phone: 410-581-9988
- Email: matthew@matthewbird.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_matthewbird_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.bird.180
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MatthewBird_
Image Credit:
All images © Matthew Bird
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