For Matt Muhitch, art is about creating and sharing intensely personal statements.
‘I think that makes them more powerful because people feel like they can connect,? said the Oxford High School senior.
Muhitch’s work obviously made a connection with the judges of the Orion Art Center’s 8th Annual Joan Brace Scholarship Competition.
He won the $500 Marce Cyrowski Award for his three oil and pastel paintings.
Born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, Muhitch and his family moved to Oxford during the middle of his junior year. That’s when he began painting.
Muhitch said he draws his inspiration from ‘My experiences. People I meet. Things that I question about myself.?
‘Basically, everything that you see, everything I do is saying something about something I’ve struggled through,? he said. ‘One of the things I concentrate on is what I suffer through.?
In a way, art has become a form of personal therapy for Muhitch.
‘It really is kind of a getaway from everything I go through,? he said.
The oil painting Muhitch entered in the Orion Art Center’s competition is entitled ‘Too high an altar.?
It depicts a sad young woman standing on giant altar overlooking the water below and mountains in the background.
‘She’s sort of separated from civilization by those things,? Muhitch said. ‘Sometimes we put people on too high an altar, we exalt them too much. We don’t accept them for who they are. We kind of make gods and goddesses out of them.?
Muhitch said his painting shows ‘that we isolate them? and how ‘we need to accept them for who they are.?
Muhitch’s second piece is a pastel work entitled ‘The Inquisitor.? He said he named the painting that because ‘the more I look at it, the more she looks like she’s questioning me.?
‘I still don’t have answer to what she wants,? he said.
The third piece, another pastel painting, is entitled, ‘Across a sea of impossible.?
‘This is based on somebody I know,? Muhitch said. ‘I actually did this as kind of an apology.?
Muhitch plans to put the $500 he won toward furthering his education at the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids this fall.
He previously won a $1,000 scholarship to Kendall at an art competition the school held. Muhitch was one of 16 artists out of 120 competitors to win an award.
At Kendall, he plans to study fine arts and eventually obtain a master’s degree in the subject.
After school, Muhitch plans to become a professional artist.
‘Hopefully, I’ll have my own studio, sell my own work,? he said.