Walter T. Matia

Walter Matia began his artistic career studying biology and art at Williams College in Massachusetts. After college, he apprenticed in the exhibits department at the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, Ohio, and then went on to serve as the vice president in charge of land management at the Nature Conservancy. Matia began casting work in bronze in 1980, initially concentrating on birds, but more recently he has branched out to include dogs and other animals. He has been featured numerous times in Leigh Yawkey Woodsen's "Birds in Art" exhibit. He has also been commissioned to create many outdoor installations, at the White House Guest House, the Wichita Kansas Botanical Gardens, the Benson Park Sculpture Gardens in Loveland, Colorado, as well as a series of bulls to mark the fronts of Merrill Lynch regional offices. During the summer of 2002, a group of life-sized turkeys by Matia was installed by the porte cochere at the Museum in honor of long-time trustee Bob Mitchell.