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The Queue: Mattie Hinkley

The Chico, California–based artist’s fantastical, blobby, sexy domestic objects bring the joy home.

Hinkley shares how they combine Shaker and comic book aesthetics, the many uses of blue tape, and the artists they would choose to furnish their dream room.

By Shivaun Watchorn
October 31, 2022

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The Queue
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Photo by Dani Padgett

Mattie Hinkley.

Mattie Hinkley centers joy in their practice—and in the home.

Mattie Hinkley is a mixed media artist based in Chico, California, whose domestic objects in clay, fiber, and wood inject joy, humor, and beauty into the home. Trained in woodworking at The Krenov School in Northern California, Hinkley is currently pursuing an MFA at Maine College of Art and Design, where they are building a series of benches for their thesis exhibition. “A bench really represents community—without community it would just be a chair,” they say. Laine Bergeson wrote about their work in “Domestic Bliss” in the Winter 2023 issue of American Craft.

How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?

I make objects, mostly out of wood, clay, or fiber, and mostly for the home. Sometimes utilitarian, sometimes sculptural, always intended to cultivate a joyful environment. My studio practice is slow and quiet. I prefer hand tools and one-offs to machines and production runs.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Mattie Hinkley, Catchallabra, 2022, earthenware, 18.5 x 6 x 9 in.

In the Winter 2023 issue of American Craft, you said, “I want to make domestic objects that are reflective of the home in which I actually live.” What are some objects, realistic or fantastical, that you’d like to make?

I’d love to build a playground full of games and structures for both play and leisure. I don’t know why no one’s tackled cornhole boards as art objects yet. And, like most woodworkers, I’d love to build a dining set.

What forms do you look to—in nature, design, literature, or elsewhere—to inform your work?

I’m always thinking about the body. It’s such a beautiful thing, but it’s also so ridiculous and dumb looking. Similarly, I look equally to the austerity of Shaker furniture and the wonkiness of comics, like work by Matt Groening or R. Crumb, and try to combine those influences.

What’s one of your go-to / favorite tools in your tool kit that we should know about?

Blue tape, hands down. It’s a jig, a clamp, a template, a resist, a tear-out preventer, and a hundred other things. I use it as an underglaze resist when making wonky checkerboard patterns on ceramic surfaces. If I could be sponsored by anyone, it would be Scotch.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Mattie Hinkley, Sex Pots, 2022, ceramic, underglaze, glaze. Sizes vary.

Which artists, craft exhibitions, or projects do you think the world should know about, and why?

The work Aspen Golann is doing with The Chairmaker’s Toolbox is so important to woodworking. Coast Collective is a beautiful new furniture curation project in California. Studio Two Three in Richmond sets the example for how a community art space can (and should) work.

If today you could have any craft artist’s work for your home or studio, whose would it be and why?

I’d love to own just a single object by JB Blunk. But really, here’s what I want: a room built by Jay Nelson, furnished by JB Blunk and Kelsie Rudolph, with curtains by Adam Pogue, and lighting design by Yuko Nishikawa. But maybe that’s asking too much?

 

Shivaun Watchorn is the associate editor of American Craft. 

Photo courtesy of the artist

Comic Bench, 2019, poplar, paint, 65 x 11 x 36 in.

Check out Mattie Hinkley's work online.

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This article was made possible with support from the Windgate Foundation.

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