ABOUT THE ARTIST

Throughout Matt's life, there has always been an active passion for the great outdoors. As a young Pennsylanian boy, his dad and grandfathers would take him out fishing and later hunting to share their deep-rooted respect and enjoyment for God's country.  It became very clear that their passion for the outdoors would soon develop his passion for it as well.

Also at an early age, Matt began creating pencil sketches and small drawings. His first drawings were made up of mostly superheroes and other comic book figures but as he grew more and more interested in the great outdoors, that is when the transition began to occur.  As he graduated High School, he decided to pursue his interest in becoming a wildlife artist. In fall of 2005, He began his first semester at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design. In 2007, Matt finally learned how to paint for the first time. This opened up a whole new realm of wildlife art for him. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts in the spring of 2009, his career journey finally began.

Since then, he got married to his wife, Janna in June of 2013 and moved to North Dakota. There they enjoyed visiting some of the beautiful and inspiring places in the region such as Yellowstone, the Badlands, Banff, Jasper, and Jackson Hole. Being an avid outdoorsman, Matt spent a lot of time bowhunting and fishing out there, as well. After seven years in North Dakota, Matt and Janna ended up moving back to South Central Pennsylvania to be closer to Matt’s family. He still enjoys any chance he can get outdoors, although he admits, it can be a challenge at times. Matt now has two young kids he is eager to raise in the outdoors, just the same as he was.

Matt has been blessed to be able to travel and share his artwork. In 2019, He was a featured artist at the Williston Sports Show in North Dakota. In both January and May of 2024, Matt had two paintings featured on the cover of Fur-Fish-Game magazine. In March of the same year, Matt achieved “Wildlife Artist of the Year” with the Pennsylvania Taxidermy Association. These past two years, Matt began entering state waterfowl and trout stamp contests. For the 2024 Delaware Trout Stamp, he was awarded an “Honorable Mention”. Then the following year, Matt received an “Honorable Mention” for the 2025 Delaware Waterfowl Stamp contest.