Sonia Mattson: The Glebe Artist Who Always Comes Home
From Sydney to Asia and back again, artist and educator Sonia Mattson has always found inspiration in Glebe
For artist and educator Sonia Mattson, Glebe has been more than a place to live. It has been a constant thread running through a life shaped by art, teaching, travel and an enduring curiosity about people and places.
“I love living in Glebe and the inner city for so many reasons,” Mattson tells Neighbourhood Media. “It’s got a village feel, despite being so close to the city as well as a thriving café and restaurant culture and of course the Saturday markets. I love the fact it’s near Sydney Uni and has attracted many students, artists and musicians. These days I mostly love it for its parks and waterfront areas which are great for walking or picnics.”
After art college, Mattson settled in Sydney’s Inner West, eventually making Glebe—and later Forest Lodge—her home. She studied painting and drawing at Alexander Mackie CAE in the early 1980s and, despite discovering that a Fine Art degree offered limited career prospects, refused to abandon her artistic ambitions. She went on to qualify as a teacher and, decades later, at the age of 50, completed a Master’s degree in Education and Applied Linguistics.
Throughout it all, she continued to paint and exhibit both in Australia and overseas. Her practice has encompassed oil painting and charcoal drawing, alongside experiments with bronze sculpture, ceramics, textiles, photography and digital media, including the creation of three-dimensional virtual reality images. She describes her style as “expressive contemporary realism”.
Sonia Mattson's Love For Portraits
Portraiture has long held a particular fascination. For Mattson, the human face and figure offer an opportunity to explore psychology as much as physical form. Life drawing and painting from the model have likewise remained important parts of her practice, providing an immediate and continually challenging engagement with observation.
“I’m interested in painting beauty and light, using colours to evoke emotion,” Mattson explains. Beauty in people, places and things inspires me. Some places, like the old Valhalla cinema make me feel nostalgia for the past and I try to express that through colour.”
Her artistic career has unfolded alongside an equally varied teaching life. As a Visual Arts teacher, she has shared her skills with secondary students, while her work in English as a Second Language has taken her to Cambodia, China, Japan and Indonesia. She later taught Academic English at UNSWIL and the Centre for English Teaching at the University of Sydney.
Yet wherever her teaching career took her, Glebe remained home.
Why Sonia Mattson will always call Glebe home
For years, the suburb offered a distinctive mix of affordability, creativity and community. Mattson remembers its much-loved cafés, including The Craven, Badde Manors and Café Troppo, as well as Gleebooks and Sappho bookshops. The Valhalla arthouse cinema was a favourite destination, while the Harold Park Hotel hosted writers, comedians and live musicians.
The lively restaurant, pub and music scenes, together with the enduring attraction of Glebe Markets, created an environment that suited an artist on modest wages. Although much has changed, the qualities that drew Mattson to the area remain: its diversity, abundant greenery, old terraces, proximity to the university and, above all, its wonderfully quirky character.
“I love going to cafes and probably have been to most cafes in Glebe,” says Mattson. “Le Petit Tarte café on Glebe Pt Rd is a cosy café with a great view of the park from its upstairs mini art gallery. There are so many restaurants, I don’t really have a favourite but enjoy the many Thai restaurants as well as pub fare at the Harold Park hotel.”
During Sydney’s first COVID-19 lockdown, confined to home but determined to keep creating, Mattson began a series of oil paintings celebrating familiar local landmarks and views, including The Valhalla, Badde Manors, Glebe Point Road and a view from Hegarty Street.
Since then, she has completed a stunning series of portraits with subjects including prominent film makers, athletes, and local identities, and exhibited in many galleries.
Today, Mattson remains active as an artist, teacher and mentor. She accepts commissions, with original works and prints available through her website.
