Bridgewater Grad Lands Spot on Reality Show

It started as a dare from an employer—and turned into a gig on television.

Beginning Wednesday, former graduate Michelle Matson, 29, will appear on the second season of Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist,” competing to win $100,000 and a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.

“I was so nervous about it, and so excited,” she said of competing on the show. “I always wanted to make art for art’s sake, to show it and have the piece be the end result.”

On the show, which filmed earlier this year Matson said, the 14 contestants compete in different challenges, creating art pieces for each one. Contestants are eliminated in each challenge until a winner is determined, she said.

“Each challenge is different,” she said. “We are all super excited for it to air.”

Matson said she did not know about the show until the husband of her boss, artist Marilyn Minter, mentioned it to her.

“He dared me to do it, so I took the bait,” Matson said.

And Matson said she was not entirely prepared for what it was like to be on a television show.

“It’s crazy on television, like an alternate reality happening, and like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” she said. “But I would highly recommend doing it, it was so much fun.”

“I have so many ideas now,” she added. “I have never pushed myself in my own practice, and to be put in these crazy circumstances does amazing things to the creative process.”

As an artist focused on painting and sculpture, Matson said being part of the show helped her think about new ways of making her work.

“I saw the different processes because all the other artists on the show are amazing and they bring completely different things to the show,” she said. “It’s like being in an amazing residency with talented people and an interesting environment to be in.”

“I feel really lucky to have gotten to meet these people,” she added.

Matson said it was an audition process to be part of the show. She said she went through an interview and had the chance to show off her own work in what she called a “grueling process.”

“But I think it’s going to be a crazy great show and everyone should watch,” she said.

Matson—who lived in Bridgewater until she was 18, and whose family still lives in town with her sister having graduated from the high school this past year—said art has been part of her life since she was young. Her mother, she said, owns Fantastic Finishes, a company through which she does mural paintings.

“I used to work there as a kid,” she said. “So I always grew up painting. Art is part of my life.”

While attending BRHS, Matson said, she took lots of art classes, while also taking extracurricular courses at Raritan Valley Community College and weekend classes in New York City. After graduating, she attended the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University for one year before transferring to the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Matson graduated from there with a bachelors degree in 2005.

Since then, Matson said, she has worked for artists, including Minter, and has had her own smaller shows to show off her work.

“But I haven’t had a big show yet,” she said. “I’m still emerging, and I’ve been included in group shows.”

“I just always had an idea of exactly what I wanted,” she added. “It has always been in my brain that this is what I want, so I have been going full force.”

Lately, Matson said, she has been focusing on what she calls “paper pieces,” which are intricate life-size structures.

“They’re what I really like to concentrate on for right now,” she said. “It was just a process that evolved when I was in school. I would make them out of cardboard, especially in New York where I can find free cardboard everywhere.”

“So it started out of a financial necessity,” she added with a laugh.

For those beginning in the industry, Matson said, she recommends working for a gallery or other artist.

“I worked for a couple different galleries and other artists, and I still work for an artist,” she said. “It’s a really good learning experience and another level of art.”

“You get a lot of real-world experience that you can’t teach in a school setting,” she added. “It’s like an old-world style apprenticeship, and getting gallery experience ingratiates you to the community.”

Matson said connections are very important for an artist, as well as speaking to other artists about different kinds of work.

And for her own work, Matson said, she is influenced by everything around her.

“The pieces I’m making right now are based on these old Mexican carved masks,” she said. “I don’t know where I get these ideas, they just happen.”

For now, Matson said, she is excited for the premiere of the reality show.

“I’m going to watch it with my friends,” she said. “Everybody is super excited about it.”

“All my friends think I’m going to win,” she added with a laugh.

The show airs on Bravo at 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

For more information about the show, visit the Bravo website.

For more information about Matson’s work, visit her website.

And check back every Thursday as Patch follows Matson's progress on the show.