Matt Moffett: On Pets, Death, and President Gerald Ford
Opportunities to fulfill one’s destiny often come in unexpected ways. For Matt Moffett, his journey has indeed shown this to be true. And I ask myself, do we ever really fulfill just one destiny or have multiple possibilities of destined experiences?
As the proverbial phrase goes; When life gives you lemons, make lemonade- this seems to be the theme that started Matt’s career as an artist in 1997 when his beloved dog suddenly passed away. He searched nationwide for someone to paint an oil portrait of his pet and finally found an artist in Dallas who charged $12,000 for a single portrait- too steep of a price in 1997 and pretty steep even in today’s market. Feeling defeated and motivated, Matt described that when he was driving back to Tulsa, he “went straight to Ziegler’s, walked in and said Danny Zeigler, show me how to use oil paints. And so he did.”
“I became an artist because my dog passed away,” Matt Moffett said.
Today, people from across the globe commission Matt for pet portraits. ” I remember that pain of losing my pet. So when somebody is hiring me to capture their pet on Canvas, it’s a big deal,” recounts Matt. His art even reached a former sitting President, Gerald Ford, when first lady Betty Ford, having family ties to Tulsa, commissioned Matt to paint a portrait of their Cocker Spaniel; Happy.
Soon, another route of Matt’s destiny opened up for him. Having lived in Spain for 6 years, Matt was a Spanish teacher in Tulsa. Moving on from teaching Spanish, he then taught art to Spanish-speaking students, and soon after, he became a full-time Art Teacher at Eugene Field Elementary in West Tulsa.
Soon, another route of Matt’s destiny opened up for him. Having lived in Spain for 6 years, Matt was a Spanish teacher in Tulsa. Moving on from teaching Spanish, he then taught art to Spanish-speaking students, and soon after, he became a full-time Art Teacher at Eugene Field Elementary in West Tulsa.
One day, the tides turned when The Wild Fork restaurant owners called Matt for assistance because an artist dropped out of hanging dozens of paintings in their space. Matt remembers saying, “I don’t have 20 paintings to hang because I am a commissioned painter working full time. But would you let my kids hang?” At first, they resisted but eventually gave him the opportunity. With a budget of only $300, Matt and his students created 20 paintings, hung them in the restaurant, and ended up selling them for $1,000 a piece- selling out in one day.
Serendipitously, a woman saw this story featured on the local news, contacted Matt, and gave him the first $500,000 to start a nonprofit teaching art to underserved girls. This prompted the Tulsa Girls Art School, which Matt ran for ten years. Forgive me for this condensed timeline of events of the creation of such an important non-profit, TGAS, but for the sake of rolling along in the course of the story, I must. In short, though Matt retired from executive director in 2017, the non-profit still flourishes today as a thriving after-school program teaching art to young girls.
Purchase Matt’s art
Circling back to painting, Matt’s artistic journey always leads back to his love of oil painting on canvas. Matt’s art can be purchased through his Instagram and website as well at local art showings around town. His art is called Loose Magical Realism, and his journey as an artist seems to embody that description. Bright neon colors, iconic images of buildings, marquees, and flowers, plus his signature placement of an umbrella in each painting. During an artist residency years ago, Matt found he was not alone in the magical realism he created on canvas, for a whole school of people painted like him in the late 1800s, using symbols to convey magic. Maybe that is exactly what life does when it comes to us all full-filling our destiny; it places signs, symbols, twists, and turns along the way, hoping we will see them as opportunities to create magic for our multi-faceted lives.
Places to visit nearby
Matt’s studio near in the historic neighborhood of Charles Page in West Tulsa.
This area is up and coming with local art galleries and community centers.
Matt Moffett’s 4 Favorite pieces
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