Artist Statement
My work inhabits the liminal space between the crafted artifact and the natural world. Materials like ash wood, steel, and bronze are not merely media but storytellers, carrying histories as much as they shape form. I am drawn to processes that reveal the tension between control and surrender - steam-bending, casting, erosion, decay. These methods allow the material to speak, to resist, and to mark time. In pieces like Effusion, Reclamation, and What’s Left, the evidence of process such as melted ice, wood’s deterioration, or metal flowing leaves traces of temporality and transformation. There is a contrast between the natural and the constructed - in line, form, and content, mirroring the parallels between the fragility of memory, the body’s fallibility, the decay inherent in environments under pressure.
Conceptually, my work acts as both witness and mediator. I respond to ecological, social, and material histories - the devastation of ash trees by invasive species, the reshaping of land by human hands, the quiet imprint of time. My goal isn’t to impose meaning, but to offer a space for reflection - on how we inhabit the world, on how we remember, and on the inevitability of change. Through material and form, I hope to make the ephemeral feel tangible, if only for a moment.
Biography
Matthew Vivirito lives, teaches, and maintains a studio practice in Milwaukee, WI. Born and raised in Illinois, he lived in the western states of Colorado and California for ten years before becoming a full time artist and educator. Matthew has created a diverse body of work responding to the varied places and environments he has resided within. His work is an exploration of materials, memory, and site-specific content responding to these environments.
Matthew is currently a faculty member at the Pack School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He exhibits work regionally and nationally and was recently shown in the New York Times for his piece Framework as part of the Wormfarm Institute’s Farm/Art Dtour. He has received the Gener8tor Grant, the Ruth Arts Grant, and a Fellowship to the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery. Matthew has permanent installations on campus at the the Chazen Museum in Madison, WI, at the University of Colorado Boulder, Mitchell Street Arts (MISA) and Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, WI. He has collaborated and worked for notable artists including Macarthur Fellow Mel Chin. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Post Studio Practice and Bachelor in Art History from the University of Colorado Boulder and his Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin Madison.
CV
EDUCATION
2021 Master of Fine Arts, Sculpture, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2017 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sculpture and Post Studio Practice, University of Colorado at Boulder
2017 Bachelor of Arts, Art History, University of Colorado at Boulder
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2023 – Present Teaching Faculty II, Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Courses Taught: Introduction to Digital Fabrication, Digital Fabrication and Craft
2022 – 2024 Adjunct Instructor, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
Courses Taught: First Year Experience, Furniture Design, Instrument Design,
2022 – 2023 Adjunct Instructor, Alverno College
Courses Taught: Introduction to Visual Art / Form and Space, Analytic Drawing, 3D Design
2020 - 2021 Instructor of Record, University of Wisconsin Madison
Courses Taught: Introduction to 3D Design
AWARDS,GRANTS,RESINDECIES
AWARDS, GRANTS, RESINDECIES, AND HONORS
2025 Nominee for Research Mentor of the Year at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
2025 SURF Mentor Grant (Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows)
2024 Mary Nohl Suitcase Export Fund Recipient
2024 Gener8tor Grant Recipient
2023 Ruth Arts + MIAD Artist Grant
2023 SEAR Eco Art Residency, Searsport, Maine
2021 Temkin Exhibition Award
2021 Teaching Innovation Grant for Hybridized Learning
2020 Madison Art Commission Blink Grant
2020 Marie Christine Kohler Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
2018 William J. Wartmann Graduate Sculpture Scholarship
2018 King Competition Winner
2017 Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project Grant
2017 Susan I Byrne Scholarship for Art and Art History
2017 Eve Drewelow Scholarship for Art and Art History
2017 Bershekyi Scholarship for Art and Art History
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2026 Framework, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee, WI
2025 Produced and Attracted, Woolen Mill Gallery, Reedsburg, WI
2025 Sum Total, UWM Faculty Exhibition, Milwaukee, WI
2024 Willie G. Davidson, (Permanent Installation) Harley-Davidson, Milwaukee, WI.
2024 Framework, Art/Farm Dtour, Wormfarm Institute, Sauk County, WI
2024 Cradle, Permanent Installation, Mitchell Street Arts, Milwaukee, WI
2024 Tidal Shift, University of New England Art Gallery, Portland ME
2024 30 x 30 x 30, Var Gallery Milwaukee, WI
2023 Good Wood, Milwaukee Area Resource Network, Milwaukee, WI
2023 30 x 30 x 30 Exhibition, Var Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2022 Cradle, Var Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (Solo)
2021 Payless Art Show, Historic Mitchell St, Milwaukee, WI
2021 Roots, Center for Visual Arts, Wausau, WI (2nd Place)
2021 Outpour, Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, Art Lofts, Madison WI (Solo)
2021 Winter is Alive, Madison, WI
2020 We’ll Share, Garver Feed Mill, Madison, WI (Solo)
2020 Galex 54, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL
2020 Withdrawn, MFA Qualifier, Gallery 7, Madison, WI (Solo)
2020 Madison Municipal 2020 Exhibition, Madison, WI
2019 Fall, R Gallery, Boulder, CO
2019 Perspectives on Place, Online Publication
2019 Niche 11, Chazen Museum, Madison, WI
2018 And the People, Memorial Library Mall, Madison, WI (Solo)
2018 King Competition, Visual Art Complex, Boulder, CO (1st place)
2017 Rendered Parts, University of Colorado Art Museum, Boulder, CO
2017 Mobile Interdisciplinary Networking Exhibition, Boulder, CO
2017 Sanctuary, Norlin Library, Boulder, CO
2017 Dialogue Wall, University of Colorado Boulder Quad, Boulder, CO
RELATED EXPERIENCE
2022 Juror, Alverno Alumni Show
2022 3D Lab Supervisor, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI
2021 Project Assistant, Mel Chin, Milwaukee, WI & Ashville, NC
2021 Preparator, Guardian Fine Art Services, Milwaukee, WI
2019-2020 Project Assistant, Jennifer Angus, Professor of Design Studies, Madison, WI
2018-2021 Woodshop Technician, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
2018-2019 Project Assistant, Aristotle Georgiades, Professor of Art, Madison, WI
2017-2018 Exhibition Manager, Visual Arts Complex, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
2017 Designer, Fabricator, Co-Creator of Mobile Interdisciplinary Networking Exhibition
2016-2018 Ceramics, Sculpture, & Woodshop Technician, Visual Art Complex, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
COLLECTIONS
2024 Harley Davidson, Milwaukee, WI
2023 Mitchell Street Arts, Milwaukee, WI
2020 Garver Feed Mill, Madison, WI
2019 Chazen Museum, Madison, WI
2018 University of Colorado, Religious Studies, Norlin Library, Boulder, CO
2017 University of Colorado, Facilities Management, Boulder, CO
PUBLICATIONS
Brown, Patricia Leigh, and Eric Ruby. 2024. “A 50-Mile Art Road Trip Celebrates the Culture in Agriculture.” The New York Times, October 20, 2024, sec. Arts. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/20/arts/design/wisconsin-farm-art-dtour.html.
Segalovich, Isabella. 2024. “The Farm Art Festival Where You Can See Tractors Do Ballet.” Hyperallergic. October 16, 2024. http://hyperallergic.com/958743/the-farm-art-dtour-festival-where-you-can-see-tractors-do-ballet/.
Heim, Madeline. 2024. “From a ‘woven Sanctuary’ to a Tractor Dance, Sauk County Driving Tour Mixes Rural Life, Art.” Journal Sentinel. October 3, 2024. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2024/10/03/farm-art-dtour-in-sauk-county-celebrates-farms-rural-life-through-art/75451415007/.
Raab, Annie. 2024. “Roving Through the Driftless: A Guide to the 2024 Wormfarm Institute Farm/Art DTour - Shepherd Express.” September 27, 2024. https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art/roving-through-the-driftless-a-guide-to-the-2024-wormfarm-in/.
“Farm/Art DTour - Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin.” 2024. https://isthmus.com/events/farm-art-dtour/.
“Meet the Artists in Gener8tor Art x Sherman Phoenix’s 2024 Spring Cohort.” 2024. May 24, 2024. https://www.milwaukeemag.com/meet-the-artists-in-gener8tor-art-sherman-phoenix-2024-spring-cohort/.
“UNE Gallery Presents ‘Tidal Shift’ Featuring Works from Searsport EcoArts.” March 29, 2024. https://www.une.edu/news/2024/une-gallery-presents-tidal-shift-featuring-works-searsport-ecoarts.
Hintz, Josh. “Between Two Galleries.” 2022. Vargallery. https://www.vargallery.com/between-two-galleries.
“Matthew Vivirito – Winter is Alive!” 2021. https://winterisalive.org/index.php/portfolio/matthew-vivirito/.
“Winter Is Alive! A Cooler World Carnival | City of Madison, City of Madison, Wisconsin.” 2021. https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/winter-is-alive-a-cooler-world-carnival.
“Withdrawn (2020), Matthew Vivirito.” 2021. Kohler Fellows @ WID. January 1, 2021. https://kohlerfellows.illuminatingdiscovery.wisc.edu/withdrawn-2020-matthew-vivirito/.
“Madison Arts Commission Projects, Programs, and Partnerships 2020 – 2022.” 2020. https://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/planning/documents/Arts_2020-22_MAC_final.pdf.
Vivirito, Matthew. 2019. “A Place That Swallows Up Boundaries,” https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/ndfieldschool2018/chapter/a-place-that-swallows-up-boundaries/.
“Stark County Farmers Face North Dakota’s Energy Boom - Edge Effects.” March 14, 2019. https://edgeeffects.net/stark-county-farms-energy-frontier/.
Davis, Molly. 2018. “Temporary Art Piece Aims to Spark Public Discourse by Molly Davis.” UW ART (blog). November 3, 2018. https://art.wisc.edu/2018/11/03/temporary-art-piece-aims-to-spark-public-discourse-by-molly-davis/.
“Photos, Video: Lightbulb Moment Leads to Rolling Exhibition Space.” 2017. CU Boulder Today. October 30, 2017. https://www.colorado.edu/today/2017/10/30/photos-video-lightbulb-moment-leads-rolling-exhibition-space.
“Sanctuary, a New Sculpture By Matthew Vivirito, Installed in Norlin | University Libraries | University of Colorado Boulder.” June 23, 2017. https://www.colorado.edu/libraries/2017/06/19/sanctuary-new-sculpture-matthew-vivirito-installed-norlin.