William Mathie: In Life

William Mathie's exhibition "in Life" included amazing work in woodcut, intaglio, and letterpress.

William Mathie states that “almost all of my artwork utilizes the human figure as subject matter, main character and storyteller. I am motivated by the direct empathetic response a viewer, and I as creator, has to the gesture, pose and narrative position of a figure in an environment. I often investigate a vantage point in very close proximity to my subject to put the viewer more “inside” the implied space of the piece. The act of seeing and drawing remains one of my great joys in Life.”

Concerning his work as a printmaker, Mathie says “I am thoroughly intrigued by the inexhaustible image-making possibilities printmaking offers.  The rich variety of marks, and gritty aesthetic of intaglio, and the graphic nature of relief keep me inspired to create. I also enjoy the generous nature of the printmaking community that is quick to share techniques and approaches to image making. I am constantly excited by work created by other printmakers, mostly my contemporaries, but also a whole line of printmakers from Durer and Hokusai forward.”

 William Mathie earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. He has taught at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania since 1995. Along with teaching, he has served as the Gallery Director and the Chair of the Art Department at different times. His artwork has been exhibited and has won awards regionally and nationally. He has studied Mokuhanga printmaking in Japan with Kenji Takenaka in 2007 and 2011. He operates a studio in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, and is also currently the Director of Egress Press & Research, a Fine Art Publishing component of the Printmaking program at Edinboro University.