The Catalyst: Matthew Apol’s Motivation for Hosting York College’s First Alumni Art Retrospective
Over the next three months, The York Review will be partnering with Marketview Arts to present the Market View series. Culminating with York College’s first ever Alumni Art Retrospective, the series is a collaborative effort to encourage York College’s student body to engage with downtown York’s artistic and cultural movement.
Each week, the Market View will focus on a different aspect of the blossoming movement: the artists, the curators, the venues, the galleries, and the shops working to cement downtown York as a destination for creative cultural engagement. This week, we present a profile on Matthew Apol, Marketview fellow and curator of the upcoming Alumni Art Retrospective.
Through Facebook, we arranged a meeting at his Marketview Arts studio space to discuss a potential podcast appearance. Matthew was interested in promoting his upcoming art show, and I was desperate for new Rough Draft guests. Walking through the doors, I wasn’t expecting much more than a brief pitch, some small talk, and a handshake.
Music crept down the stairs from the second floor as I approached. It grew louder with each step — soon being accompanied by a consistent hammering. I turned the corner onto the second floor.
The space was filled with large, grey cubicles. From a distance, if empty and bare, it may have looked like a mundane corporate office. But anyone close enough to see the details would have realized it was something entirely different.
Each cubicle was lined with art: portraits of the homeless painted onto large canvases, animals carved into wooden blocks, intricate designs pressed on thick paper. Desktops were covered with acrylics and oils and brushes and knives and rulers. Each cubicle seemed to house a different mode of expression and the aesthetic alone was consuming. I stood there slack jawed, taking it all in.
The music stopped. The hammering followed. Matthew popped his head over a cubicle and called me over. He apologized for the noise — a fellow artist was experimenting with hammer pressing — and suggested we find quieter space. I agreed and followed out of the studio and up the stairs. He lead me to a brick room. The room housed windows that ran from floor to ceiling. A small, iron cast table was set up in the corner and we took a seat.
It didn’t take much prompting to reveal Matthew’s passion for the arts and his community. I sat back and let him tell his story.
After graduating with a dual major in graphic design and fine art, the first in York’s history, Matthew spent five years in the graphic design industry before moving to New York to run a business. He’s recently returned to York to prepare a portfolio for his MFA application process. When I questioned his motivations for returning, he stated that “York’s fine art program has raised the bar significantly since I graduated; The faculty and facilities are on par with many of the larger schools I am looking into for my MFA. I knew if I wanted to produce the best work I am capable of, I needed to return to the community that had influenced me and nourished my creative development the most.”
Upon his return, Matthew took up residence at Marketview Arts and was granted studio space amongst other artistic alumni. His creative output has since flourished; which he accredits to the daily inspiration he receives from fellow artists at Marketview. However, he noticed a lack of community engagement when Marketview would host gallery events.
“I was shocked at the lack of attention some of our gallery showings and other events have received. Matthew Clay Robinson organizes relevant, breathtaking exhibits, and the attendance is just not what it should be. And I know the college is full of students who care about art. I just think there’s a real lack of awareness of all the cultural opportunities Downtown has to engage with.”
As I student, I knew he was right. It took years for me to engage with the creative writing community on campus, even longer to engage with downtown events such as First Fridays. I knew I this wasn’t due to my lack of interest, but lack of knowing. I was curious to hear any ideas he had to address this issue. It was then he revealed his motivations for hosting his upcoming at exhibit.
“York has never had an alumni-exclusive art exhibition. Seeing it as a great opportunity to promote the art department, I presented the idea to MCR and he greenlighted it. The concept has since grown to represent more than an exhibit. Now it represents part of a larger mission to create a lasting relationship between downtown’s artistic movement and the YCP student body.”
I was all in, willing to help in any way I could. When the semester began, The York Review adopted a similar goal: to encourage engagement and connectivity within our student body’s creative community. Out of this mutual vision for York’s creative future, we decided to work together in a larger capacity then a one-off podcast interviews. Artist profiles, video interviews, podcasts — all with a focus on highlighting Downtown York’s growing culture. By the time the exhibit debuts on January the 6th, we hope students will genuinely excited about attending. And not just for course credit, but for an opportunity to be involved in an exciting cultural movement happening blocks away from their campus.