The Vessel

In the performing arts, puppets and masks are tools for actors to give life to characters. However, in the ancient ceremonial usage of these figures they were meant to inhabit a “soul”, to house it like a vessel and allow it the opportunity to live once more.

Matt’s work walks the line between these worlds. Even when motionless on display, his goal is for the sculptures to feel as if they’re alive.

This exhibition is the opportunity to present such objects that are most often seen on stage (and in motion) in a more intimate manner, inviting the viewer to take a closer look. A closer look at all the wrinkles of the paper, marks of the chisel, and fingerprints in the clay.

Matt Jackson

Matt Jackson is a professional puppet and mask-maker for film, theater, and the fine arts with over 20 years of experience.

His work is about an appreciation for the observed life around us, nature, people, animals, and even our constructed society and how he can reflect it through his sculpted interpretations.

Whether it’s a mask, a puppet, or simply a frozen image, he has a sincere wish for them to possess their own life and add something new to the world.

Through the use of organic materials, he includes an important but often unrecognized ingredient to the dialogue between image and spectator. He is continuously experimenting with materials such as wood, paper, ash, and wax. 

There is often a sense of melancholy, sadness, maybe even regret in his pieces, but when viewed closely one can also see the hope.