Matthew Higginbotham
Artist's Statement
"I paint my personal experience of the lands in which I live; what I see and what I feel. The cloud pieces represent the beginning of the cycle of life in the New Mexico environment that all my work refers to. The spring monsoons bring the first rains after a long winter - they replenish the earth and bring forth life from the ground. The rivers swell as these pregnant clouds let loose sky-sweeping storms and the acequia ditches flood. The acequias bring water to wild flowers and farms, which start to bloom and grow. The colors in the burgeoning flowers and fields reflect, in brilliant hues, the subtle colors that dance across the sky and within the spirit of the massing clouds. Each season offers up its soul - manifest in varying hues and intensities. Spring's brilliant colors eventually transform to the softer, subtler shades of fall. This body of work is very much about the spirit of life in water- clouds are transcendent sprits and rivers carry their life. Water holds color and light and nourishes our environment with it. It nourishes and excites and soothes me as I hike through and meditate amid these rangelands and bosques. I feel as though I am a constant witness of miracles. By painting this glory and the emotions I experience in the landscape, I hope to bring that energy and that soulfulness to each canvas so that it communicates the reverence I feel for these living lands. It's especially important at this time when we truly must cherish and protect and be thankful for the natural environment; it nurtures the life around us, and the life within us."
Biography
Matthew Higginbotham was born in Colorado Springs in 1963. His interest in art began at the age of 11, in a pottery studio at Tulsa's Philbrook Art Institute with a weekend cart class. From 1991 to 1995, Higginbotham owned Northwest Pottery and Fine Arts in Spokane, Washington, where he sold functional pottery and fine art ceramics. His work was exhibited throughout Washington State, in galleries such as Sasak and Southwest Collections. In 1995, a creative transformation led him to painting. He discovered a new way to communicate his creative vision on canvas. The change was profound. In a matter of days, he decided to sell most of his pottery equipment and to devote himself entirely to painting. His decision was life changing. "It was really a transformational event for me when I started painting. I remember diving into all the art books on painting I could get a-hold of and going back to the studio to practice and practice. Then it took off for me. I painted a series of Southwest churches that led to a solo show in 1995 at Metro Mall Gallery in Spokane, Washington, and later, an exhibition at Bedford Gallery in Colorado Springs, Colorado. But it wasn't until I moved to northern New Mexico in late 1995 that I began to mature as a painter." Higginbotham moved to Chimayo, New Mexico, at the end of 1995 and continued his series of churches, including a large commission of the famous Santuario de Chimayo. He also managed Casa Escondida Bed & Breakfast, sold his own paintings and postcards to guests, and was represented in a local gallery. Gradually, he began to focus on landscapes as his choice subject for his paintings. "In the early years of painting I experimented with many subjects; eventually landscapes became my primary focus. It just seemed natural for me to want to study the nuances of what I was seeing in the fields and skies, and the more I painted them, the more I began to understand how they made my feel. Then when I found the colors that worked best for me and I could paint better, a whole new world opened up. I could really get into a landscape and start seeing the many wonderful opposites: darkness and light, peace and chaos, subtlety and directness, intensity and muteness. At that level, I could begin to really express my emotions on canvas."
