Carol Matsuyama

Carol was born in England but emigrated to Canada when she was 18 months old. Her father was a printer and watercolour artist and she grew up watching and learning from him. As a mature student, she studied Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase, New York, and graduated with a BFA, summa cum laude. This was followed by a career as a Children’s Educational Book Designer of over twenty years. After the stock market crash in 2008, Carol was forced to retire and began painting commissioned pet portraits. This is how she honed her skills working with acrylic paints. 

 The COVID lock-down was a pivotal time for Carol and her art. She took a break from painting and used the time for reflection and evaluation. With a pandemic, wars, and the effects of climate change, she found the world to be a very dark place. So, she decided to paint colour and light, and only the things that make her happy! Focusing on Still Life, her first painting with this new approach is called Heartlight. She continues to grow and evolve and master her art. 

 Today Carol is an award-winning artist, primarily using acrylics in her studio in Port Perry. She may paint in a realistic style, but don’t let that fool you. Her paintings have a distinctly modern look. She is currently testing boundaries and moving away from traditional still life while retaining high realism. 

 Carol loves the still life genre because it gives her complete control over what and how she paints. Much of her creativity happens before she ever puts brush to canvas. It is her choice of objects, of saturated colours, of lighting, and how she arranges them that makes her art distinctly her own. The result is a true reflection of Carol and her personality as an artist. Her art reveals her multicultural influences, including her British background, growing up in Canada, having a Japanese husband, and living in the US for nineteen years. Objects in her paintings come from her collections and remind her of the many people and places she’s known. Carol often includes Japanese objects which hold personal significance, as they are part of her everyday surroundings, and they enrich her paintings by adding uniqueness. She also prefers to paint on large canvases, which she feels have more impact. 

Carol finds the actual act of painting very satisfying. She says it feels like magic when everything starts to look real and three-dimensional. To achieve this realism, she focuses on the interplay of colour and value, using a defined light source as a guide for placing shadows and highlights. She explores the unique qualities of diverse surfaces such as glass, fabric, ceramics, or even food!  

Recently, STEPS Public Art used Carol’s painting, “Heartlight,” to cover electrical boxes in Uxbridge and Courtice, so keep your eyes open when you are out and about. You might see them brightening up the neighbourhood. STEPS is an organization in Durham that focuses on working with artists and communities to transform urban environments through projects such as murals and creative place-making initiatives.  

Carol’s paintings have been in many local juried shows and galleries. She had two very successful solo shows at the Kent Farndale Gallery in May/June 2019 and June/July of 2025. Her last show was very well accepted, and some people even called her the new Mary Pratt! Her art hangs in private collections throughout Canada, the US, and Japan. Carol looks forward to her next solo exhibit at the Scugog Council for the Arts in 2026.