States of Matter

If things have been unusually quiet here for the last several weeks it’s because I’ve been occupied with rebuilding the studio to make it better arranged to support the type of work that most often happens within its walls. At the same time, I’ve been working on a long-gestating idea to rename the imprint through which my studio output enters the world.

When I acquired my first Risograph in 2020, there was no plan. I didn’t have a clear sense where owning that machine, and the other equipment I’ve acquired since, would take me. And it’s taken time to understand my voice in the work I want to produce.

After much rumination, I landed on the name Matter Editions. It made sense by being sufficiently curious, expansive, while also sounding sturdy and reliable — characteristics that are all important to me personally. Then there’s the obvious pun: work that matters — and that is made of matter (in the scientific sense), and connection to states of matter (solids, liquids, and gasses), all of which happened to be relevant to the intentionally material and tangible objects being created.

The ideas being pursued have to be ones I’m genuinely tuned into and interested in, if only because I quickly veer off when that’s not the case. Each project has to measure up to my expectations and be challenging in some way to ensure opportunities to learn through the creative and production processes. They have to matter — to me, and hopefully to others as well. I want the endeavor as a whole to be my personal dent in the universe as the saying goes.

None of it is about art for art’s sake, though I do try to make room for that too because it does have a funny way of influencing the main work in unpredictable ways.

The Editions part of the name ties into a longstanding belief that these creative endeavors are a vehicle for ideas that don’t need to scale. They’re not about creating an empire, some sense of ego, or getting rich. It’s really about finding a little space to explore, to wonder, and to hopefully create something that offers an expression of that to someone else.