Husband and wife Frankfort artists among hundreds coming to Kentucky Crafted Market
Martin Matisoff spent decades as the supportive husband to his wife’s art. When they were a young couple in Los Angeles, he would drive her to classes, built studios for her in each of their homes, gave her thoughtful feedback on her work, and provided emotional support when she was ready to quit.
“Marty has always supported me in my art all the way back from when we first met,” painter Sharon Matisoff says. “He has always gone to all my shows ... Even when I gave my demonstrations, he was always there supporting me.”
But Sharon always thought it would be wonderful if Martin’s involvement went to a different level: As an artist in his own right who could share the experience.
It was not a far-fetched desire. Martin was an avid art enthusiast and had his own interests, drawn to fabric art created by a Chinese technique he once saw called the blind stitch or forbidden stitch, so called because it was so small and intricate that, according to legend, embroiderers who made that stitch would go blind.
In retirement, Martin became an embroiderer who has not gone blind and will be joining Sharon this weekend as an exhibitor at the Kentucky Crafted Market in the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena. The annual market, presented by the Kentucky Arts Council, boasts hundreds of arts and crafts exhibitors as well as music, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and other attractions.
Sharon has been a demonstrating artist at Kentucky Crafted several times before, but this will be both of their first times as exhibiting artists. If you go check them out, it will be easy to tell their work apart.
While they share a last name and modest home in Frankfort, Sharon and Martin’s art works are quite different from each other. Sharon’s paintings are drawn from reality with a growing focus on equine art since the couple moved to Kentucky, seeking a quieter life than L.A., around 20 years ago.
Sharon spent decades as an enthusiastic amateur artist, focusing on portraiture and animal art and growing her skillset both through classes and self learning. Her spacious studio in the couple’s modest Frankfort home boasts finished works and works in progress, including a portrait of her late mother-in-law taken from a photograph.
The focus of Sharon’s recent endeavors has been equine art, a particular challenge for the painter who prizes precise dimensions in her work. She notes that many equine artists also own and work with horses. While she does not have that kind of proximity to the animals, she has found Central Kentucky provides a variety of opportunities to be around and study horses, including the Kentucky Horse Park and Keeneland. Her attention to craft has earned Sharon numerous accolades and associations, including artist membership in the American Academy of Equine Art.
Sharon often looks to Martin to help evaluate whether images are looking right and proportional as they evolve from sketch to completed painting. For her part, she marvels that, “he has an idea. He thinks about it. He sketches it, he embellishes it, he changes it, and then he’s got something magnificent, and he’s got this darkness captured perfectly.”
Martin’s embroidery results in fantastical images drawn from literature, religious works, and historical sources. Though he only “put needle to fabric” two years ago, he has developed a painstaking process that starts with planning out pieces in a sketchbook before bringing them to fruition with threads and other materials. Along the way there have been many challenges such as figuring out how to represent barbed wire in embroidery for a piece drawn from the Holocaust and victories such as selling a piece featuring the Biblical creature Behemoth to the Kentucky Artisan Center.
Now retired, the Matisoffs enjoy days of creativity in their studios across the kitchen of their brick ranch house from each other. They have entertained the idea of a joint show, and Kentucky Crafted brings them closer to that. Their living room reflects their excitement for Kentucky Crafted with a joint display of their work ready to head to the Horse Park.
“It feels fabulous to be doing this together,” Sharon says. “We will be supporting each other. And I don’t feel alone. I feel like my buddy, my soulmate is right there. I’m safe, so it gives me this feeling of complete freedom to just relax and enjoy the day.”
The Kentucky Crafted Market
When: March 9 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and March 10 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: Alltech Arena in the Kentucky Horse Park, 4089 Iron Works Pike.
Tickets: Admission is free and the Horse Park charges $10 for parking.
Online: Artscouncil.ky.gov
