Matt Ward – ‘A Study In Chalk’

07/05/26 till 13/05/26

Matt Ward is a 51-year-old artist who works predominantly with chalk and charcoal.  His work began as a portrait artist, which he still regularly does on a stall at Margate’s old town market.  He later started experimenting with chalk portraits, which he found to be a very different discipline, now drawing in the negative space and leaving bare what would once be marked, drawing the light, instead of the shadows.

Finding chalk to be messy but versatile, he expanded from portraits to landscapes, specifically beach scenes, drawing inspiration from the Margate skyline, and using fallen cliff chalk to create the sky and sea.  He also took inspiration from a street spray paint artist that he saw in Sydney, Australia, 20 years ago, and started using masking tape to make the most of the contrast between the deep black of the paper and the white of the chalk.

Having developed his practise, he realised that anything could be drawn in chalk, and sought inspiration in photographs he had taken which could be rendered into new images.

For commissions and further information contact @MattWardGallery

Private View

Fri 8th May 2026