El Matteson November Guest Artist 2024

The paintings I create have helped me appreciate our embodied experience. We are both spirit and substance; one is not without the other. We ought to delight in the details of both our physical and inner worlds.

I began with the lungs and with the idea of inhaling blessings. Love, friendship, and appreciation are represented.

The heart displays roots and life beneath the surface. It shows a honeycomb with no bumblebee to call it home, while also promising new life in the branches.

In the digestive system, butterflies in the stomach remind us of the nervous excitement that accompanies new experiences. The snake can be seen as cunning and shrewd, similar to ourselves when we trust our intuition.

Notable details in the brain include forget-me-nots in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain, and a chameleon located in our “lizard brain,” the amygdala.

My recent addition to this collection was the female reproductive system. I sought to honor various experiences of femininity, parenthood, and the choices one must make for their future. I also wanted to make a love letter to our descendants and the future we hope to cultivate for them. We must cultivate a society that values peace, healing, sacrificial love, kindness, and autonomy.

Eden is the woman to which all these organs and body systems belong. She is at peace with the beauty of her humanity and the temporary life she was gifted.

Visit El's Art Cart

You can find Matteson at the following events.

Holiday Craft Fair

Battel Center in Mishawaka, IN

November 9

Fall South Bend Artisan Market

Century Center in South Bend, IN

November 16-17