Meg Matko

Dear friends, after nearly 13 years with Assembly for the Arts, Arts Cleveland and the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, I’m excited to announce I’ll be joining the team at Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities as their Arts & Culture Community Development Specialist! This new opportunity melds my love for the arts and advocacy with my dedication to supporting people with disabilities. Looking forward to new possibilities and challenges! It has been an absolute honor and privilege to serve and support the artists, organizations, businesses and everyone in between who make up the wild and wonderful arts community in Cleveland. My work at Assembly has been more than position - It’s been my purpose to help others feel valued in their artistic selves, to advocate for better systems for the arts, to appreciate artists, to construct supportive programs, to build meaningful relationships and most importantly to listen to the arts community. It’s my sincere hope that I’ve been able to do some good in my time here. I am grateful and lucky to have been part of an amazing team @assemblycle and will miss my colleagues dearly! To all the artists and amazing people I’ve connected with over all these years, THANK YOU. You’ve changed my life for the better. I’ll still be around! Please consider me a friend and resource always ❤️

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday for the Moon Babies gallery opening! We are so excited to share @megmatko work with you! We will have the T-shirts we made in collaboration with Meg and @sequoiabostickillustration for sale at the shop to go along with with the exhibition. Also look out for an upcoming artist talk and workshops to go along with the exhibition.

Move over Labubus, enough chaos. Who will save us from the dark, doomy energy casting its malignant shadow over this planet?? Moon Babies! With special green nature energy emanating from fuzzy, soft bodies, tiny face crystals and rosy cheeks, Moon Babies use magical protective power to shield humans from rotten evil and bad juju. Grab your moon boots and soft outfits and join us at Wave Space @wavespacestudio for the Moon Babies Star Party Sat, Oct 11, 6-10 p. Link to rsvp in bio. Adopt a Moon Baby at the party and join the fan club with a custom designed Moon Baby t-shirt or tote by Sequoia Bostick! ⭐️About the Work + Artists💫 Meg Matko takes her sculpture and performance in a new direction with Moon Babies, exploring fantasy, Kawaii culture, consumerism and Al obsession. This work is a subconscious response to the current state of all-consuming civil unrest, imploding social politics and the unrelenting crush of information, Matko conjures a portal of escape, magic and child-like play. Manufacturing small beings to serve as protectors-and assuming excessive personas to shift identity, the work becomes a commentary on our own ability to emotionally self-preserve and revisit childhood innocence in the face of a reality that has become unsafe. Sequoia Bostick @sequoiabostickillustration is an illustrator, maker, designer and plant enthusiast based in Cleveland, Ohio. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, she pursued work as a Comp artist for Darice arts and crafts where she created products for clients like Michaels, Target, etc. In 2016 she started working as a resident teaching artist, helping local youth develop their visual art skills while growing her own practice as a freelance multidisciplinary artist. Sequoia thrives in community-based projects and also serves as the social media and community engagement manager at Zygote Press. When she’s not creating, you’ll find her leading the Genghis Con Cleveland committee or exploring Cleveland Metroparks.

On the way upstate, I had a thought for a tintype with nine ladies in white dresses standing in a row. This concept was made all the more special in its execution. So many hands helped make this plate happen. @time_traveler_tintype coated the plate and handled the focus and camera. She inspired us to make the planning count so we could make this happen with as few tries as possible. 🪄 @analogue.ashley @folds_mud @megmatko and myself were the models for this in the two different attempts we made at it (this is the second one) 🪄 @analogue.ashley is a genius with double exposure and reading light 🪄 I guessed our exposure and overshot it, but found some folks who helped me save it and bring it back down. At one point about 5 people surrounded the plate and helped guide it into its final state, one we were all really pleased with. That was so special and thank you to the people who helped us save it, because we didn’t have time for more tries. To have an idea one day, and a few days later to meet people who WANT to help make that idea a reality, who want to sweat and run and make the effort to make something special is honestly one of the best feelings in the world. I imagine it’s how my musician friends feel when they play together. This work can be very solitary. While all portraiture is a collaboration, it’s so rare to have this many tintype photographers in one space to work on something together. I don’t mean to sound dramatic, I know I do and I don’t care. I’m just so thankful to have this community.

It’s incredible how 6 days of nature, Art making, camaraderie with dozens of artists and limited creature comforts can make all the sadness in this world seem so small, nourish my soul so deeply. Another year I’m grateful to share in John Coffer’s camp tintype jamboree in NY. I wouldn’t be here without the kindness and love of @gregory_paul_martin - you are my heart. Thank you for your talent, your creative collaboration and your gentle spirit. ❤️ @pictorial.light @the_mystery_jig and @thesilversunbeam so many hugs for your welcoming hearts and incredible talent. I miss you already. To all the artists - this collective is built with your hands and your brilliance. THANK YOU for your creative energy. It is what we all need so intensely right now. The first image - a true collaboration with Greg Martin and my favorite. “Luminosity” is the only word John said when he saw it.

Artists of all disciplines living in Cuyahoga County! Two weeks left to apply for the first cycle of the Boost Fund through Assembly! Applications close on April 7 at 11:59pm. This year, 140 artists of all disciplines will be randomly selected to receive $1,500 each, with 40-50 artists selected in every cycle. I’m really excited about this grant as it’s the first time we’re using a random selection method to make funding decisions. That means your application will not be evaluated based on merit and won’t be reviewed by a panel of judges. Using this method reinforces the notion that artists of all career stages and abilities are worthy of receiving funding for their work and reduces subjectivity and competition among artists. There are some eligibility requirements so check out /boost for all the details. There’s a video of our grant workshop on that page and I’m happy to answer questions if you have them. Tell your friends! Three cheers to paying artists 🍻

Thank you @shedprojects_ for this incredible field trip to the home of artist and collector, Charles Mayer! Charles has spent his 83 years of life collecting art and objects, lovingly integrating each piece into this massive collection inside his childhood home. Some of my favorites were the Gary Spinosa stones (first and last slides). Charles has amassed hundreds of these porcelain pieces and dozens of other pieces by this prolific artist, owning the largest collection of his work. His home was even featured in Divine Instinct, a documentary profiling the life and work of Gary Spinosa. Charles himself is a brilliant visual artist and visionary and has been the curator of the Sandusky Cultural Center for 55 years. His work is currently on view at SHED Projects! Check it out if you can!

So honored to be invited by Spread the Love Foundation @spreadtheloveoh to participate as a visiting artist in @cleveleads Look Up to Cleveland Arts Day alongside this amazing group of artists! @just.c.o.s @dayzwhun @mscreamofthecrop and Mariah from STLF I got the opportunity to talk with lots of high school juniors about being an artist, wearing weird costumes, making art and what it means to be an arts administrator and advocate at @assemblycle ❤️

Meet Moon Baby! My newest creation. 🌝 She and her sisters are magical little creatures, designed to protect their human friends. She likes fresh air, flowers and even snow, and loves to be loved. All Moon Babies are born fuzzy with little face crystals! Expect to see more of these sweet babies from me this year. Definitely a departure from my usual work but so refreshing and fun to make. Thank you @gregory_paul_martin for these beautiful photos!! 😘🌖 💎🌸🔮

Happy Election Day! Please vote and please VOTE YES for Issue 55 to support continued funding to arts and culture in Cuyahoga County. Yes, this funding is distributed to arts and culture nonprofit organizations, but we will ALL feel it in our communities if Issue 55 does not pass. Every event, work of art and artist in this post has been touched by the funds generated through this tax. This is a nonpartisan issue that affects every one of us. ❤️

Happy Halloween!!! 🦇🩸🖤💀 🎃🍁 70s vampires, escaped convicts, aliens drinking cocktails and cats disguised as cats.

She’s done. Alien Princess 2024. @gregory_paul_martin and I will be out and about east and west in full blown costume tonight, so c’mon out! This was the most complicated mask I’ve created so far. The sculpt is all paper clay on plaster gauze. Multiple multiple rounds of sculpting to get the high suspended forehead and cheeks. The third eye is polymer clay with a super thick clear glaze. I love her! 👽🛸💙🖤