Robert Matheson

Metamorphosis: A Journey in Time, Mind, and Place

Metamorphosis is a metaphor for enormous change. It is, at heart, an internal journey to a new state of mind and takes time, much like the time in the cocoon is important for the soon-to-be butterfly. 

Unlike the butterfly, humans have a choice. They can change or they cannot. Change in humans is always connected in some way to the other humans around them. When they do change, they often fly away to new places like the butterfly. They find their new tribe.

This is the story of the metamorphosis of Robert Matheson. It is also the story of his supportive and facilitating wife Amy who wants Robert to be happy.

Robert always wanted to be an artist, a creative person. He went to a community college in his hometown of Salt Lake City and studied graphic design. This was before Google. 

It was the dawn of the internet. It was exciting being at the beginning of such a revolution in communication and design. Robert joined this exciting cultural metamorphosis. 

Robert decided to go right into work and grow his skills with the industry, rather than finish college. He spent 17 years in the business which was changing at the speed of light, through graphic design, programming, team work, on and on. You spent your time building, rebuilding, and rebuilding incessantly. “The people you worked for could never get enough of your time, building their dreams,” he said. 

What about Robert’s dreams? “I would go to bed at night thinking, I just want to paint…” he said. His wife Amy kept telling him to quit and do what he wanted to do. 

Even after Robert finally quit his job and began painting full time, he struggled. He had to unlearn a lot of things—to deprogram—about what was important in life.  What was he going to do with the rest of his life? What kind of person and artist would he be? 

So, he decided to take a trip, a pilgrimage, to Europe with a good friend to see if he could find the answers to some of his questions. Robert needed to put distance between himself and his past work to reinvent his life and become a true, full-time artist. 

What better place to start than Copenhagen? Sitting in a coffee house, looking at work of a local artist, Robert saw a painting of three boats. The unique way the artist presented the boats caught his eye and his mind. 

“Why don’t I go meet the artist,” he thought. Robert found the name of the local artist Henrik Schütze on his painting. He found his address on Facebook. Off he went to Freetown Christiania to meet Henrik. 

Christiania is an intentional community and commune of about 1,000 people in a borough of Copenhagen. It was an abandoned military base where artists and others squatted in the 1970s. Controversial from the beginning, it is still a somewhat independent area, but now more normalized and under all Danish laws.

Robert knocked on the door of Henrik’s home. He saw paintings stacked and lying around but no one answered. He sat across from the house and waited. While waiting, he painted a picture of the home. No Henrik, so he left the painting and a note that read, “I was moved by your pieces of art that I saw in the coffee shop. Next time I am coming through Copenhagen; I would like to meet with you.”

Robert left and got on a plane to Greece, his next stop. Henrik reached out to Robert in Greece and said, “When you are coming through Copenhagen again, come see me.” Exciting news, but Robert was experiencing Greece now.

Robert prefers plein air painting—painting out of doors—so he took the train one morning to paint on the Aegean Sea. Every beach he started to set up on was a private beach. It was hot. He kept trudging with his painting supplies, begrudging the time he had spent accomplishing nothing. 

He heard a voice. “American…American” A fisherman sitting in his boat, talking to a woman was waving at him. Robert went over where he saw that the older man was mending a net with his legs spread out with the net in his toes. They chatted about politics and life. He learned that Stratos had once been a policeman and now was a fisherman. Robert remembered, “He talked about life and gave me a lot of advice, like a Greek philosopher.”

As it got later in the day, Stratos invited Robert to join him on the boat to set nets and fish. Robert admitted that he had reservations but was open to the journey. He chose to take the risk. Stratos taught him how to set the nets while giving more life advice. 

After finishing the work, Robert noticed the sun was setting over the Myrtoan Sea. “The most beautiful sunset I had ever seen,” he said. “What do we do now,” Robert asked after all of the nets were set. “We wait,” said Stratos, and he looked patiently out across the sea and the last rays of the sun. 

After a moment, he took out an apple, peeled it, cut it and offered Robert a piece. Robert remembered, “I’m expect ing this sweet apple. It touches my tongue. It is salty from his hands. Then, it is sweet. I will never forget it. I’m there right now…”

They worked together in the deepening dusk with the boat light on pulling in the nets. Stratos teased Robert about how badly he steered the boat. Robert was in awe of how nimbly the 65-year old Stratos moved around in the small boat and hooked the nets to a pulley. 

When they emptied the nets, the boat light flickered across the sardines as they spilled into the bottom of the boat. They sparkled like stars that had fallen from the crowded sky. Robert can still see this magical sight in his mind’s eye. 

Seeing all the fish in the bottom of the boat, Robert shifted to business mode and asked Stratos, “How many fish do you have to catch to make a living?” It was not the right question to ask Stratos.

“That is a stupid question,” said Stratos in a voice he had not used with Robert before. “That doesn’t matter. I get enough. [pause] So, when I take it back, I sell what I can. I share with the cats that stay in my boat. The rest I trade with my friends for what I need. That’s it,” he said with a shrug that emphasized how unnecessary this question was. The companions go back to shore quietly and unload the catch. Robert thanked Stratos for everything and assumed it was time to head for the train, but the journey was not over. Stratos insisted that Robert continue on for coffee and cakes at his favorite hangout. After, he would walk Robert to the train station.

Robert admitted that he was thinking, “This man is giving me all this time and energy, for what?” Finally, standing at the train station, he asked the question out loud, “Why did you do all of this for me?” Stratos reached out and put his hand over Robert’s heart and asked, “You feel good?” Robert replied, “Yes.” The fog in Robert’s mind cleared. “That moment changed my life,” he said.  “It was a moment of metamorphosis.” He remembered the Church of Metamorphosis in Athens that he had seen the previous day. Perhaps seeing this church was a foreshadowing of this encounter and its impact. 

Robert had seen an example of a life well-lived and understood what his life could be like moving forward and what he needed to value. It was kindness above all else. It was about making people happy. It was the Stratos way. And, this was only the beginning of his journey in time and place through metamorphosis. 

Robert returned to Copenhagen. The first thing he did was return to Christiania to see Henrik, the artist. He knocked on his door. He was invited in and opened the door to a charming Nordic home with a fire burning and fur on the backs of chairs. Henrik was sitting at the table, looking him up and down like a proper, stoic Dane would do. “Who are you?” Henrik asked. 

Robert told him who he was and how inspired he had been by his work and how much he had wanted to meet him. They talked more. Henrik finally asked him, ‘Where are you staying?” Robert replied, “I don’t have a room, yet.” Henrik stated, “You are staying with me.” 

Henrik had a bike with a cart in the front. He told Robert to get in the cart and then proceeded to take him about Christiania and introduced Robert to his friends. He also took him to his atelier, his art workshop or studio. 

Robert remembered, “He shared the day with me, showing me his life and what it was like to be an artist in Copenhagen…He totally opened my eyes.” This was exemplary of the artist tradition—artists helping each other. Robert took this to heart.

Stratos had introduced Robert to a new level of kindness and living simply and wholly in the moment. Henrik showed him one window to what a collaborative artist’s life can be. The metamorphosis was complete, or at least its foundation had been laid. 

On Robert’s return, Amy saw and felt the change. She knew that he had left seeking, and that he had found. It became truly real for her when they went back to Denmark and visited Henrik. Amy recalled, “It was a continuation of Robert’s experience.” 

They completed the circle and invited Henrik to visit them in Las Vegas. Henrik and Robert painted in Nevada, Utah and Southern California. Places like Joshua Tree, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. 

For Amy, the highpoint was their visit to Robert’s parents’ home in Utah. Robert sent pictures of his Dad, Mom and Henrik sitting around a fire pit in the back yard, Henrik singing and playing his guitar. She said, “I think it is wonderful that Henrik got to meet Robert’s parents, and taste his Mom’s cooking. They had a great time.” 

Henrik was more inspired by the remote, natural wonders than Las Vegas, at one point remarking, “You can’t be inspired here.” Over time, he was proved to be right. 

Robert and Amy began seeking again. This time it was for a new home where they could be inspired. They wanted to find a welcoming community filled with energy, kind people and artists. They wanted to find a place where they could make a difference. 

Robert went to many places that were welcoming, but none as welcoming as Newberry. He met four people the day he visited Newberry. They made all the difference. They were Liz McDonald, Marguerite Palmer, Bill Shull, and Renwick Price. 

Liz at the Newberry Chamber office was his first stop. She said, “He was just so charming. He was almost instantly like one of my children.” Robert said she is like his adopted Mom today.  Bev, Robert’s Mom, will have nothing to do with that. She said to Liz, who had suggested adopting Rob on Facebook, “I saw him first. You can’t have him.” Bev and Liz are friends now on Facebook and in co-parenting.

Liz sent Robert to Marquerite at the Newberry Art Center (NAC) next. Marquerite remembers the day very clearly. When he walked in the Art Center, she came from the other side to greet him. She said, “I had three thoughts when I saw him. ‘I know him…I don’t know him…he’s a person who stands out.’ I went up to him immediately and said, as if I knew him, ‘Well, how are you?’ 

He replied with ‘Hi, I am Robert. How are you?’” He explained what he was doing in this search for a new home. Marquerite immediately replied. “Well, you are in the right place and you have found the right town.” She echoed what Liz had already said to him. 

Bill Shull and Renwick Price reinforced the idea of “Newberry is the right place.” Bill invited him to see his home. They are now best friends. Robert recognized in Renwick an artist also pursuing inspiration. She was a member of his tribe.

Robert called home to Amy and said, “There is just something about Newberry. I really like it here.” He came home and shared pictures with Amy and experiences in different towns. They reviewed the list of places to consider, but he told her, “I don’t know. I just can’t stop thinking about Newberry.” 

He and Amy came back and visited. They decided Newberry would be their new inspiring home. Why? Amy summed it up, “It was so similar to what we experienced in Christiania.” 

Robert and Amy officially made Newberry their home last July (2019). Since they arrived, they haven’t stopped practicing Stratos’ kindness or emulating Henrik’s community of artists and creative people. They have quickly woven themselves into the heart and soul of the community and are making a difference. They are inspired by what is already here and celebrate the supportive community. 

This truly is the city of friendly folks.

Robert and Amy want to be a part of the metamorphosis of Newberry. Robert said, “My goal is to raise the happiness, health, and well-being of others through the arts.” Although Robert often takes the lead in these efforts, he made it clear that, “Nothing I am doing happens without Amy.”

It’s why they bought the building on the corner of Caldwell and Friend Streets and are renovating the space for art and artists. It will be a part of the art ecosystem developing in Newberry. In the building is his art studio where Amy also has an easel, several artists’ studios for rent, a gallery, and the Franklin Miller Life Drawing room where Figure Drawing Sessions are held every Wednesday night. Two of the studios have already been rented.

Robert and Amy want all creative people in Newberry County, whether they think of themselves as artists or not, to know that what they do is appreciated. Robert said, “We want to have pathways that take the creative person all the way to exhibiting his or her work.”

It’s why he started a photography meet up group at Newberry 

the first Monday of each month. They exhibit their photography quarterly at NAC.

It’s why he encouraged a first-time artist exhibit at Half Full last fall for local artist Jay Uhrig. Robert continues to encourage fellow local artists to hold exhibitions throughout the city.

It’s also why Robert is spearheading the Newberry Made exhibit April 17-19 at the Old Newberry Hotel, with the support of Joe and Mary McDonald. He wants the event to celebrate every form of creativity in the community. He knows that some people who create beautiful objects do not consider themselves artists. He explained, “People are afraid to call themselves an artist because of all of the baggage with that label…” He wishes, “people could just say ‘I create.’”

If you create, please go to NewberryMade.com to sign up for the event or call NAC at (803) 597-1125.

The following pictorial features just a few of the participating creators at this inaugural Newberry Made. Some of the work from the event will be exhibited in businesses throughout downtown.

Perhaps this exhibit will be a moment of Metamorphosis for you as a creator. Perhaps, your art could inspire a searching soul like Henrik’s did. Perhaps, you could reach out to that person in the Stratos way and bring happiness to his or her life. Life is full of possibilities, particularly if creativity is in your life.

Photography by Ted B. Williams.