Visual Arts
Meet the Makers
Master potter Chris Prindl and wood-turner Matthew Patrick discuss the search for the perfect curve in their Korean Moon Jars.
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Visual Arts
Artist
Matthew Patrick
I am fortunate to live on a smallholding in southeast Cornwall, on the southern edge
of Bodmin moor.
Surrounded by woodland, sky and light, my practice centres mainly on sculptural vessels made from local timber taken from dead or dying trees. The timber I choose to work with often has areas of decay and damage. My aim is to give material at the end of its natural life a renewed presence. Originally trained as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, my work is rooted in an exploration of the relationship between interior and exterior; what we hold and process privately and what we re-present to the world. For me, the vessel form in particular offers a tangible metaphor for emotional containment — particularly when that container is compromised, scarred, breached, or in need of repair. Many of my pieces begin as quiet, resolved forms which I then subject to stress — fire, freezing, bleaching, carving, texturing — allowing the material to respond. These interventions are more investigative than decorative. They aim to test structure and meaning, asking what survives, what is lost, and what becomes visible when the container fails or is disrupted. They also touch on themes of resilience, reparation, and recovery. Ultimately, I explore the tension between what is seen and unseen — presence and absence — and how a vessel can hold, transform and reveal through what it encompasses, exposes, or releases.
Matthew Patrick at Music on the Moor
Visual Arts
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