We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matthew Mroz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was at my first college. I had just been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and was having a hard time. I was an athletic training major and was taking a sculpture class for the gen. ed. requirement. It was the only class I wouldn’t miss.

Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born in Scranton, PA. Now I live in Ludington Michigan. I went to college to become an athletic trainer and while there was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. The only classes I wouldn’t miss were my art classes. After a long line of medications, I left school and moved home to focus on my mental health. A few years later I went to Keystone College to finish my art degree and was introduced to metal casting and glassblowing. I focused on sculpture and glass while at Keystone. Most of my work while here was foundry related, casting Iron and bronze, or blowing glass.
Then I went to Rochester Institute of Technology for graduate school, thinking that I wanted to teach and needed an MFA. I successfully defended my thesis but left school before completing the required coursework due to financial reasons.
During grad school I interned at Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota for their (now defunct) Hot Metal Residency. I was asked to be the Hot Metal Intern Coordinator for the next 3 years. While at Franconia, I met many great artists and became friends with many of them. One of the artists I met was Joe Bigley who founded the Western North Carolina Sculpture Center & Park in 2019. In 2020 I first went to WNCSC in March for their Pi Day Iron Pour. I spent a week there and fell in love with the park. Now I spend around 2 months a year at the park doing iron pours and other special events.

I think one of the things that sets me apart from other is I use molten iron to make paintings. I was taught the process by Mike Dominic. He developed the process of mounting paper to a support and, using a hand ladle, pouring molten iron on the painting to create beautiful markings and revealing the color of the paper underneath.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to make art that people appreciate.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

No. Just No.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @mrozsculpture

Image Credits
Randy Knauf Matthew Mroz