Matt Calvert is a widely collected Australian-based sculptor who works primarily with toughened glass, aluminium and corten steel. MATT CALVERT b.1969, Smithton, Tasmania, Australia

EDUCATION
1994 Master of Art, Goldsmiths College, University of London
1993 First Class Honours, Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
1992 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania

Matt graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Fine Art (first class honours) in 1993. He was awarded a Samstag Scholarship to Goldsmiths College, University of London, where he completed a Master of Art degree in 1994.

After residencies in Paris, Malaysia and Japan earlier in his career, Matt’s practice now focuses on small and large-scale public and private commissions that feature recycled, toughened glass, sometimes in conjunction with corten steel and aluminium.

Matt sources his glass from waste material, smashes it up in his studio in aptly-named Glaziers Bay in southern Tasmania, and reconfigures it using a cold fusion, flat mould lamination technique into quirky forms of children, an iconic range of farmyard and exotic animals and more recently, tree-like forms. When creating his work he often references illustrations from old picture books, ‘cookie cutter’ figures and likenesses of his son, Eddy.

A recurring theme in Matt’s work revolves around roadside tributes and memorials, referring to the loss of his father in a car accident when he (Matt) was only seven years old and featuring most recently in the work selected for the 2014 McClelland Sculpture Survey, Dieback.

A regular finalist in major Australian sculpture awards over the past 15 years, he won the Montalto Sculpture Prize in 2015 for the work Pointing Girl. His work is held in public and private collections in Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the United States.

Matt was a member of the Asialink Arts Advisory Committee between 2010 and 2013 and in 2015 became a member of the Res Artis International Residency Network with his studio space, The Pickers’ Hut @ Glaziers Bay.

AWARDS/PRIZES AND GRANTS
2021 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Victoria – finalist (Pandemic Puppy)
2019 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Victoria — finalist (Regrowth)
2016 The 2nd SEA + Triennial, National Gallery of Indonesia (Dieback)
2015 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Victoria – winner (Pointing Girl)
2015 Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi – finalist (The Navigator, with Michael Schlitz)
2015 Bay of Fires Art Prize, Tasmania – finalist (The Sand)
2015 Tidal Art Prize, Tasmania – finalist (The Birds)
2015 Toorak Small Sculpture Prize, Victoria – finalist (Ice Pig)
2014 McClelland Sculpture Survey, Langwarrin, Victoria – finalist (Dieback)
2013 Winner, Dick Bett Memorial Prize, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi (Pointing Girl)
2013 Sculpture By The Sea, Bondi – finalist (Pointing Girl)
2013 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, New South Wales – finalist (Little Elephant)
2012 McClelland Sculpture Survey Award – finalist (Night Imp)
2010 McClelland Sculpture Survey Award – finalist
2009 Montalto Sculpture Prize – finalist (Peter Stared into the Vast Unknown)
2009 Willoughby City Art Prize, New South Wales – finalist
2009 Hobart City Art Prize, Tasmania – finalist (Too Strange)
2009 Toorak Sculpture Prize, Victoria – finalist
2008 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize – finalist
2007 Hobart City Art Prize – finalist
2007 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize – finalist
2007 Wyndham City Council Acquisitive Award, Victoria – winner
2007 Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award – finalist
2006 Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award – finalist
2006 New Work Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
2005 Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award – finalist
2003 McClelland Sculpture Survey Award – finalist (Merge)
2001 Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award – finalist
2001 National Sculpture Prize, ACT – finalist
1993 Anne & Gordon Samstag Visual Arts Scholarship