Colin Matthes has been making instructional drawings for the past thirteen years. This drawing practice has drastically improved Colin’s remembering, storytelling, and creative thinking capabilities. Total Essential Knowledge workshops are how Colin shares and teaches these creative breakthroughs with others.
Colin grew up on a farm on the outskirts of a village with three bars, a post office, and the world’s greatest junk parade. He holds an MFA from the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Colin’s childhood spent installing electric at small-town county fairs, wiring trailer parks, and using photocopy machines formed the way he makes things and views the world. By making instructional drawings, Colin shows the means of production: the process, the fingerprints, the screwups.
In addition to workshops, Colin exhibits his work. Recent venues include the Charles Allis Museum (Milwaukee, WI), Roots & Culture (Chicago), Mulherin (New York), The Queens Museum (Queens, NY), The Science Gallery, Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), and the Royal Hibernian Academy (Dublin, Ireland). Colin has also done residencies at Werkkamp (Belgium) and Cow House Studios (Ireland) and won the Mary Nohl Fellowship for Individual Artists (Established) grant.
