Today’s sketch Wednesday will branch out from their typical display, and feature the artwork of one of the CUB Gallery’s own employees.

This Meet the Curator event will feature the work of Jonathan Matteson, the CUB Gallery programmer and WSU senior studio practices major.

Matteson’s collection of work ranges from watercolors to acrylics to bricolage, a form of art that uses seemingly random items to create a form of collage. Matteson uses colored Duct Tape in his bricolages.

“I’m interested in art theory, how colors and patterns affect people,” Matteson said.

Since Matteson is the curator for the CUB Gallery, he is usually behind the scenes, choosing art and helping with the installation. It is a unique experience to have students be able to see the work he’s created, not just the work he’s selected, said Angel Nava, Student Involvement arts coordinator.

“It’s not all the time that we get students (working with the CUB Gallery) who make art themselves,” she said.

Matteson worked in marketing and graphic design before he came to WSU, Nava said. His design skills can be seen in his art, as it is very colorful and uses lots of patterns, she added.

“I was a marketing director before college,” Matteson said. “I was working for a company on the West Coast, creating visuals for ads.”

Matteson came back to school in order to get a better understanding of critical art, as he already had experience with creating the art itself.

The art Matteson created is considered abstract, something the CUB Gallery hasn’t featured frequently in the past few months.

“As a gallery worker, I wanted there to be work that was different from what we typically have, such as photos or representative work that portrays things of the real world,” he said.

Matteson added that he wasn’t originally thinking of his art for the exhibit, but the CUB Gallery staff had the idea for Meet the Curator.

Much of Matteson’s art experience has a professional background, having created images for advertisements at his job. However, he still finds making art therapeutic and thinks the meaning of different works of art should be left up to the viewer to decide.

“Art is meant to be a nonverbal form of communication,” he said. “I can provide an anecdote, but art is supposed to speak to everyone individually.”

Matteson’s array of media is a result of his experimentation with different forms of art. Many artists use different media and explore different art forms, such as music or theatre.

“(My art) is a way to show that I’m a student like you, I’m experimenting just like you,” he said.

The Meet the Curator exhibit will feature both a mocktail bar (serving non-alcoholic mixed drinks) and mashed potato bar, a new feature added at the end of last semester that appeared to be a big hit, Nava said.

“I like that the exhibit is a way to connect the students doing the work in a deeper way,” she said.

The “Meet the Curator” Sketch Wednesday is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today in the CUB Gallery. Admission is free.