Background
Matthew Welch was born in the United States.
2015
Matthew Welch
2015
Matthew Welch
2018
Matthew Welch with Robert Wilson and Liu Yang. Photo by John Whiting.
Matthew Welch
Matthew Welch
1 Trinity Pl, San Antonio, TX 78212, United States
Trinity University where Matthew Welch received his Bachelor of Arts degree.
1450 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045, United States
The University of Kansas where Matthew Welch received his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
(This book examines the impact of visiting Chinese artists...)
This book examines the impact of visiting Chinese artists on Japanese art between 1600 and 1900.
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Vision-Visiting-Chinese-Painters/dp/0913689246
1986
(Ōtsu-e: Japanese Folk Paintings from the Harriet and Edso...)
Ōtsu-e: Japanese Folk Paintings from the Harriet and Edson Spencer Collection is a definitive catalogue on Otsu-e paintings based on a selection of 24 paintings and 2 woodblock prints drawn from the Harriet and Edson Spencer Collection, one of the largest Otsu-e collections outside Japan.
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-paintings-Harriet-Spencer-Collection/dp/0912964553
1994
(This book is devoted to Zen art as a living tradition. It...)
This book is devoted to Zen art as a living tradition. It explores the heart of Zen experience through contemporary Zen art, demonstrating how this time-honored visual form continues to flourish today.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Twentieth-Century-Zen-Paintings-Calligraphy/dp/157062495X
1998
(Lavishly printed in full color, this exhibition catalog f...)
Lavishly printed in full color, this exhibition catalog features over 300 spectacular examples of netsuke carvers' art. Chapters elucidate the historical development and extraordinary breadth of netsuke production with examples from as early as the 17th century to contemporary works by living artists.
https://www.amazon.com/Netsuke-Japanese-Art-Miniature-Carving/dp/0912964669
1999
(Body of Clay, Soul of Fire delights art lovers, potters, ...)
Body of Clay, Soul of Fire delights art lovers, potters, and collectors, as well as everyone who is interested in Japanese and Benedictine traditions. Richard Bresnahan is a preeminent American potter and an ambassador for the natural environment. Reared on a farm in North Dakota, he graduated from Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and apprenticed as a potter in Japan. Returning to Saint John's, where he is an artist in residence, he built a massive wood-burning kiln, which, with its innovative flame flues and water channels, dwarfs all other North American kilns. By digging his own clay, using local seeds and hulls as glazing materials, and firing with deadfall, Bresnahan also practices a brand of environmentalism worthy of his Benedictine surroundings.
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Clay-Soul-Fire-Bresnahan/dp/1890434450
2001
Matthew Welch was born in the United States.
Matthew Welch began his studies at Trinity University. He matriculated into this university planning to major in biology or chemistry with the thought of entering medical school. Until an elective class changed his world. The following semester he enrolled in a class on Japanese art with professor Carla Zaine. As a result, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Art History in 1980. Shortly after graduation, Matthew headed to the University of Kansas, which his adviser, professor, and Chinese painting specialist Leitha McIntire suggested as a good place to continue his studies. He obtained a Master of Arts degree in 1982 and then spent a year in Japan teaching English, honing his Japanese language skills and making important contacts among Japanese art historians. Returning to Kansas, he continued his studies at the University of Kansas and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Asian Art History in 1995.
A Fulbright Scholarship to the Department of Arts and Letters at Kyoto University for doctorate research brought Matthew Welch back to Japan, where he had previously lived and worked. What was to be a yearlong process stretched to four as Matthew wholeheartedly embraced Japanese society, and his cultural immersion included practicing Zen meditation at Tofuku-ji, the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto. His research delved deeply into a Japanese Zen priest who had lived through the country's modernization era and left behind a copious amount of paintings and calligraphies.
Then, holding impressive academic credentials backed by in-depth experience, Welch embarked on his chosen career path. He joined the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) in 1990 as an assistant curator of Asian art. A series of successful publications and exhibitions propelled him through the ranks to associate and full curator. He generated eleven exhibitions, four of which have toured nationally. In 1998, he expanded the display of Japanese art at the museum from two to nine galleries. That same year, he also opened the first gallery devoted to Korean art at the museum. In 2006 he unveiled six additional galleries, making the Japanese art display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art one of the largest in the country.
For several years he was also an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, teaching courses in Asian art history.
He assumed his present positions as chief curator and deputy director at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2010. Although primarily involved in shaping the overall strategic direction of the museum, its exhibitions, and its programs, he retains his passion and curiosity about Japanese art and remains engaged in that aspect of his training. Since his appointment, he has revamped the museum's exhibition selection process and is presently examining the role of ancillary support groups to ensure that their activities are aligned with the museum's mission and that their contributions are recognized and celebrated.
Welch is also known for his publications. His love of traditional Asian ceramics and a ten-year friendship with preeminent Minnesota wood-firing potter Richard Bresnahan resulted in Welch's biography Body of Clay, Soul of Fire: Richard Bresnahan and the Saint John's Pottery (2001). Welch traces Bresnahan's career, from its inception as a student at St. John's University through his apprenticeship in Japan under the innovative thirteenth-generation Karatsu-style potter, Nakazato Takashi, to his more than thirty years as an artist-in-residence at his alma mater. The five-chapter book includes a foreword by Gerry Williams, illustrations and firing schedules for two multi-chamber wood-burning kilns, and listings of visiting artists and apprentices. Welch uses journal notes, interviews, and glorious full-color and black-and-white photographs to trace Bresnahan's compelling story.
He also wrote Ōtsu-e: Japanese Folk Paintings from the Harriet and Edson Spencer Collection and Netsuke: The Japanese Art of Miniature Carving (with Sharen Chappell) and contributed to Japanese Quest for a New Vision: The Impact of Visiting Chinese Painters, 1600-1900, Selections from the Hutchinson Collection at the Spencer Museum of Art, edited by Stephen Addiss, and The Art of Twentieth-Century Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy by Japanese Masters.
(Ōtsu-e: Japanese Folk Paintings from the Harriet and Edso...)
1994(Body of Clay, Soul of Fire delights art lovers, potters, ...)
2001(Lavishly printed in full color, this exhibition catalog f...)
1999(This book examines the impact of visiting Chinese artists...)
1986(This book is devoted to Zen art as a living tradition. It...)
1998
Quotations:
"I'm constantly amazed at humankind's capacity for innovation and creativity."
"One fear was that people would spend all of their time with the technology, not look at the art. But we found exactly the opposite was true. Particularly younger people who are comfortable with technology. They will explore online one of the in-gallery programs. Then they quickly run off to find the object and look carefully at it. I think it's a wonderful thing."
Matthew Welch serves on the board of Upper Midwest Art Conservation Center.
Matthew Welch married his high school sweetheart, Michelle Freisenhahn, shortly after their Trinity graduation. The marriage produced two children.