Matthew Pawlowski (he/him) began working at Arts Midwest in 2021 as the Office Manager. A former California resident, he worked previously as the clinician staff manager for the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and from 1996 to 2000 was the curator and manager for ESP Gallery, a community art exhibition space dedicated to emerging artists and located in the Mission District.
Because Arts Midwest incorporates hybrid and remote work practices, Matt is the public-facing, office-based representative for Arts Midwest and in March 2022, he managed the move to a new operations location at Lakeside Office Center located next to Bde Maka Ska. As part of the Human Resources and Operations teams, he works on behalf of Arts Midwest staff as a benefits administrator and manages the organization’s office needs.
Matt has a background as a curator, artist liaison, and staff manager. He has a special interest in working with accessibility-centered art programs and previously curated in-person and online exhibitions for NIAD (Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development) and Creativity Explored, both of which are community art programs for people with disabilities located in the Bay Area. Matt was a member of the visual arts panel for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the early aughts and was a curator, panelist, and judge for such diverse organizations as Southern Exposure and the Tom of Finland Foundation. Additionally, he is a visual artist and incorporates needlework and traditional textile materials into his artwork.
Matt focuses on in-house resources and is working to streamline Arts Midwest’s digital and analog HR filing systems and evaluate over 30 years of Art Midwest’s archived documents.
A little more about Matthew Pawlowski:
His favorite thing about Arts Midwest is that it is an organization willing to pivot, grow, and adjust to directly meet the art-centered needs of communities across our region.
Matt is excited to work with other Arts Midwest staff on selecting artwork made by visual artists from our region as we inaugurate a permanent art collection in our new office space.
His favorite Midwestern artist is painter/mixed media artist George Morrison (Grand Portage Chippewa), an early influence for his use of spatial language and fearlessness to embrace color. Matt is inspired creatively by wildly interpretive queer history-based writings both fictional and non-fictional.
When he is not working, he can be found in the garden, in the art studio, in the movie theater, or outdoors. Matt likes to make pickles and try plant-based recipes.
Connect with him on LinkedIn.