Welcome to the AofE blog! This is our very first blog post, so cut us some slack.

Everyone loves a good origin story (just look at all of these Hollywood comic book movies). So let me tell you a little about who we are and what we're doing.

My name is Matthew, I am an artist and coffee professional. After graduating from art school, I got married and moved to DC and tried to "make it" as an artist. About 4 years into the grind my wife and I moved to Rwanda. She got a job with a non-profit healthcare organization that works in rural areas around the world, called Partners In Health. We lived in a rural village about two and a half hours outside of the capital for a couple of years and met some really amazing people.  Needless to say, I was surrounded by brilliant minds, my wife and her colleagues. Finding myself out-brained, I wanted to learn as much as I could about everything around me; the details of rural healthcare, local people, living sustainably, non-profit's in foreign countries, and the other expats that were crazy enough to do what we were doing. I attempted to absorb as much information as possible all within the context of art. Where was the place for art within this environment? What art can cross each of these boundaries? What type of art could connect with a doctor from Boston as well as a Rwandan who has never left our little village of Rwinkwavu.

With this experience, my perspective had changed. While in DC I had surrounded myself with people just like myself; people who would understand art for the sake of art. But now, I felt like I couldn't get away with that. We moved to Boston and I was frozen with self-doubt, so I went back to the basics. I started to do anatomical illustrations like I did in school. Working on line quality, shading, etc, all for the sake of practice. I knew doctors and the like could appreciate the human anatomy illustrations, but I was felt like I was abandoning my avant-garde artistic side. I needed to find some sort of middle ground. Bony bodies, skinned hands, and internal organs aren't necessarily appealing to everyone so I had to figure out a way to make the art I enjoyed doing both self-gratifying and engaging to all types of people.

~6 years pass

The name "Anatomy of Everything" came to mind before the art concept! And I liked the idea that this would allow me to do serious anatomical illustrations of very silly things! My wife is my toughest critic (which is greatly appreciated as an artist) and has always enjoyed my anatomical illustrations far more then any other work I've created. The name Anatomy of Everything is all I needed! I sat down, sketched out a few initial ideas, and the ideas kept coming. This was it!

Along the way I've gathered a number of friends who have supported me as an artist, told me my good ideas were good and, more importantly, that my bad ideas were bad. The first call I made, and the first person - aside from my wife - I told about this concept is my friend and now business partner, Ben. Before I could finish my pitch he asked how he could get involved!

Since that phone call there have been a lot of late nights and long weekends illustrating, finalizing branding, and dialing in the concept. We added apparel, a blog, and eventually educating and allowing the fine art of anatomical illustration to be appealing to more people. As most artists do, I had my doubts throughout the process, but seeing his excitement for what Anatomy of Everything could become, I have felt nothing but support. Through all that Ben has been a strong encourager and a battery pack to keep me drawing.

In the end, my back-to-the-basics artform, familiar object anatomical illustrations can reach people of all walks of life, reach across borders, and help others appreciate the dignity in the details around us.

Together Ben and I present to you...

Anatomy of Everything: an exploration into the details of familiar objects.

Tell us what you think!