JEA Art Gallery Reception

Andrea & Mark Mathews

Art You Look at. Art You Wear. Art You Use

Andrea and Mark Mathews are a married couple – he is a native and she has been here for 43 years. Andrea is a sign language interpreter and recently retired from SCAD after 26 years of interpreting. She is still doing medical interpreting. Mark works for Stagefront Presentation systems as an audio-visual installer. They are members of Mickve Israel and Agudath Achim. Two of their passions are Dachshunds and creating art. At the start of the pandemic (during lock-down) Mark watched some videos on paint pouring. They decided to try it and fell in love with creating art. Their techniques are varied; they don't do only paint pouring. They use acrylic paint and put an epoxy coat on afterwards. The epoxy makes the colors pop and it protects the piece. It is an unforgiving medium, so you might see some imperfections. They had to learn to accept these as part of the process. After something is painted, the excess paint is picked up and cut out for the necklaces. This makes them all unique – no two can be identical. Their trivets can be displayed as art on stands (stands can be found at Michaels or Hobby Lobby) or can be used as trivets. They have a neoprene backing and they will withstand up to 450 degrees. Their coaster sets can also be used as trivets. Their slogan is, “Art you look at, art you can wear, and art you use.”

Their work has been sold at craft fairs, Sea or Be Seen Boutique, shopSCAD, and is currently in the Mickve Israel gift shop.