Tony Matthews
Tony Matthews was born in London, England in 1951, and in late 1954 my family journeyed across the ocean and settled in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
After I had finished my education, I began my art career, firstly as a designer for Delta Plastics (later to become Allflex International) and then into the crazy world of advertising as an art director for Charles Haines Advertising, one of this country’s leading agencies. In 1984 I set up my own freelance art and design company, TM Design. It was during this time that I began painting and exhibiting more regularly.
In the 1990s I was commissioned to design and paint a series of murals for Plumbing World, with works in all the major cities from Whangarei to Christchurch – sadly these are now lost due to corporate rebranding.
Over the years I have painted and sold numerous artworks and murals, and twice won the Foxton Festival of Murals – fortunately most of these still feature throughout the lower North Island.
Late in 2013 I saw the light and moved south to the beautiful town of Havelock, and was immediately inspired to try my hand at creating works using the amazing local resource – mussel shell.
Today I am primarily sculpting using copper and various recycled materials. My works feature in private collections and museums. I also have two major public pieces “Last of the Stragglers” in The Forum in Blenheim and “Monty and his Mother” outside the Havelock museum.
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