2004 Cherry Creek Arts Festival
Selected as one of eight Emerging Artists in 2004 for the prestigious Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, Matt Locke created this collection of handcrafted functional sculptures to exhibit in the show, allowing the materials themselves to dictate the forms. Instead of designing and then specifying materials, Matt shopped first, finding beautiful specimens of wood, glass and metal. He then conceived the objects around them. All wood is left in its natural state, just hand-rubbed with clear oil; the reds come naturally from Andaman Island padauk, the translucently rich bubbles from Australian lacewood, the deep figured grain from African zebrawood. Even the MDF top of the cocktail table is left nude to highlight itself. The materials simply are what they are, and the objects become a study in finding forms in the material first.
Solid Wood Lamps 1997 & 2000
Two solid wood lamps made as commissions, one for a client in New York City, the other in Colorado.
Amy's Box 1986
Interpreting a vision of the Memphis School as seen through the movie Ruthless People, Matt made this MDF and pine box for his sister.
Birdcages 1987
After not finding any stylish birdcages in the store, Matt made the first from wood and cake cooling racks. A neighbor loved it and commissioned the second for her own pair of parakeets.
Firstlight 1985
His very first object, Matt made this lamp in his Dad's shop from a leftover acrylic miniblind rod - cut and arranged around a bulb to diffuse the light - MDF, and the back of a little fake Hollywood studio light he got for Christmas.
Glass Table 1986
Matt found a beautiful piece of broken glass in him Mom's stained glass studio and imagined a table around it. Cutting slots into an MDF board and a 2" diameter dowel, Matt brought it to life for his high-school bedroom.
Nightlight 1987
Made as a gift for a dear friend, Matt fashioned a night light from an electrical outlet cover he found on one of his Dad's jobsites.
Portside Sconce 1987
Commissioned for his Dad's architecture studio, Matt invented his own process for bending acrylic sheets, using the oven, mitts, and a coffee can. Epoxy holds a cobalt blue glass blob directly over the most brightly lit part of the sconce.
Psychological Self-Portrait 1990
At Princeton Matt took a sculpture class from renowned technological artist James Seawright, who asked the students to create a psychological self-portrait in three dimensions.
