Matt Patterson is a wildlife artist whose work focuses on fish, amphibians, reptiles, and moths. His work has been featured in Yankee, Fine Art Connoisseur, and other publications. He has also exhibited in many fine art galleries, and his paintings hang in the permanent collection of museums. He received the Roger Tory Peterson Wild American Art Award in both 2017 and 2018. When not painting, Matt spends his free time looking for turtles and snakes, fishing, and kayaking. You can see more of his work at mpattersonart.com.
Matt’s Harris Center exhibit runs from September 1 to 28, 2020 in the Thelma Babbitt Room. He will hold an opening reception on Friday, August 28, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Artist Statement
There’s almost no distance I won’t go, almost nothing I won’t do, to learn all I can about my subjects, in order to make my paintings of wild animals as accurate and lifelike as possible.
I’ve been bitten by snapping turtles. I’ve caught alligators with my bare hands from a kayak. I’ve camped in the Everglades, traveled to Central America, and have been all across the US visiting 48 states. I’ve delighted in it all.
From as far back as I remember, I’ve loved both wildlife and art. I grew up in the small, rural New Hampshire town of New Ipswich. In my free time, I was always either out fishing, searching for turtles and snakes, or painting. My father was a biology teacher and our home hosted a large menagerie of animals, including a turtle named Heathcliff and two pigeons named Mel and Leroy.
Today things haven’t changed much. I am a professional artist, and I work from a home I share with my wife; my tortoise, Eddie; my two dogs, Roo and Monte; and my snake, Ernie.
— Matt Patterson
