On Jan. 15, the Jacob Spori Art Gallery hosted the opening night for the first art exhibit of the semester. Titled “Still Playing in Mud,” the exhibit features ceramics and sculptures by former BYU-Idaho art professor Matthew Geddes.

“When I was first hired to teach at Ricks College, I taught both sculpture and ceramics,” said Geddes. “As it grew, I had to give up something because it was too big, so I did sculpture. But since retiring I’ve come back into it, everything that’s in the exhibit was created within the last two years.”

Geddes’s wife Christine taught French, and the two of them retired in 2016 after teaching at BYUI and BYU-Hawaii. According to Geddes, he has been “playing in mud” for years.

“It’s just something that I’ve done since I was a little kid,” Geddes said. “In fact, the reason why it’s called “Still Playing in the Mud” is that’s how I got into sculpture. I’ve never gotten it out of my system.”

The Geddes are currently serving in the France Lyon Mission, and have been there for about four months.

“This idea of having an exhibit first emerged maybe two years ago when [Geddes] was making things on campus,” said Kyoung Dabell, art gallery curator. “He’s retired, but he’s still very much involved with creating new art.”

Dabell said that since Geddes was constantly making art, she jokingly suggested an exhibit, an idea Geddes agreed with.

“We found out that he was going on a mission, so…we talked and we went to his studio, picked out the things that he prepared…transported them, we designed [the display],” Dabell said.

Geddes didn’t realize he and Christine would be in France, on their second mission, when the exhibit opened, but decided to go ahead with it anyway and make their appearance remotely over Zoom.

Dabell pointed out the different styles on display, in Geddes’ “Earthforms” series, ceramic pottery with various lids to his sculpted clay figures.

“It was really fun, and I was so appreciative of having figurative sculptures in between,” Dabell said. “His pottery are awesome, but instead of having [the] entire room covered with the pottery, we have these breaks of very expressive sculpture pieces, so it’s a feast to your eyes.”

Geddes experimented with using the cracked surface on pottery and his trial runs are also on display.

“You can see how many hours and how many different colors, combinations, different glaze, the shiny ones, matte,” Dabell said. “He tried hundreds of samples and I can’t imagine the time that he spent, but look how beautiful this result is.”

Kennady Parkinson, a senior and fine art major with 3D art emphasis, attended opening night and said she really enjoyed the figurative sculptures.

“I actually like the emotion in his sculptures,” said Parkinson. “That’s something that I’ve always felt like Matt [Geddes] does well. I love looking at the emotion, the way the material moves over the human figure. I’m a really big sucker when it comes to sculptures because that’s mainly what I do.”

Junior and art education major Alexa Tadlock was “widely impressed” with the sculptures.

“The pots are fun, I just don’t care very much for those in general,” said Tadlock. “They’re all executed well and have a consistent texture, style that I like.”

Parkinson said that she liked the textures and colors on display in the pottery and the form of Geddes’ human sculptures.

“The textures on his pottery is something that I also really love, and the colors, the way that he’s able to create purposeful breaks in both his figures and his pottery is something I’m also very impressed with,” Parkinson said. “I was in the medical world for a period of time before I moved into art, so pieces that show a lot of the human anatomy are things that I’ve always loved because I understand it.”

Since Geddes made all the artworks on display after his retirement, Dabell said that it's important to remember to always keep learning and creating.

“Even if you’re retired or you’re working somewhere part-time, don’t stop creating,” Dabell said. “Use your talent, learn new things. Never stop creating.”

"Still Playing in Mud" is on display in the Spori Art Galley until Feb. 20.