Matthew O’Reilly is an emerging artist who recently completed his MFA in ceramics at the Alberta University for the Arts in Calgary, AB, Canada. He also holds a Honors Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Education, and a Masters in Education with a specialization in social justice from LakeHead University. He is a passionate educator, currently teaching k-12, as well as a formidable maker, having recently received the First Place NCECA Graduate Award of Excellence from the 2021 NCECA Juried Student Exhibition held in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Working between ceramics and sculpture, Matthew’s studio practice uses the sculpted figure as a launching pad for conversation about social issues. Matthew is particularly concerned with subverting sculptural embodiments of masculinity, whiteness, and power structures.Through employing a critical framework, reflexivity, and the armoury of satire, Matthew aims to make reflexive work that pushes and pulls our perceptions of modern day society, and the roles we play in it. Matthew hopes to complicate and contribute to the dialogues around identity. His tactful, thoughtful, and humorous approach to material and subject matter examines social issues through a frame of plurality.
