Typewriters

Matthew Pierce, MFA
October 2020

There is a certain integrity in the life of a typewriter, a visceral honesty that we no longer understand in our digital world where autocorrect and editing takes place almost simultaneously, where the written word disappears into a void and where computers are manufactured to suffer a short, untimely existence.  I am fascinated with the typewriter's handcrafted, mechanical, yet sculptural nature. The typewriter has become a romantic icon of another era, it is at once obsolete yet timeless. It is a mysterious oddity to the young and a nostalgic friend to the old.

About the artist

Matthew Pierce, MFA

Matthew Pierce is a multi-disciplinary artist and professor at Walla Walla University who not only teaches, but is actively involved in his own art career. As a working artist he is able to bring fresh ideas and real-world content to his art classes. His current interest is the exploration of painting objects and people.

Through his art, Pierce explores the ideas and assumptions we attach to the commonplace or nostalgic and how our perceptions are altered by time and changing perspectives. His contemporary approach to painting shows an exuberance in application of paint and color, with a witty and wry playfulness. 

After attending Walla Walla College and earning a degree in Commercial Art, Pierce went on to build a career as a graphic designer and art director specializing in periodical design. After 23 years in the commercial design field Pierce decided it was time for a change so he set out to earn his MFA in Drawing and Painting from The Academy of Art University, San Francisco. Almost immediately, upon completion of his degree, Pierce was offered an associate professor of art position at his alma mater and filled the vacancy of his recently retired art professor and mentor. “After living on the east coast and various places in the west, it was nice to return to Walla Walla. Nearly all of the best things in my life happened in Walla Walla.”