Matt Halm, Muralist
Matt Halm doesn’t like to paint vanilla. The 38-year-old artist prefers his creativity be spent on the abstract, taking a concept to the next level; hence the Allentown native’s latest mural at 520 Hamilton Street showcases seven floors of bold color and what some might consider intricate, thought-provoking design.
Halm is known for his murals around the Lehigh Valley, but he didn’t immediately head into that artistic direction. He was immersed in art from a young age. His grandmother studied with Walter Baum (the name behind the infamous Baum School of Art) and her home’s walls were adorned with various paintings. Although family later distracted her from her craft, that didn’t prevent her, or Halm’s parents, from encouraging Halm to pursue his talent.
When asked what makes an artist, Halm, moving his paint-stained hands and wearing a shirt smeared with various paint colors—an ode to his dedication—simply says, “to have enough paper to keep doing it.” A grandfather who worked at Mack Trucks gave him multiple invoices with a blank back as scraps, but Halm turned them into art. “My mom probably still has invoices for truck parts and then drawings on the back,” says Halm.
He started building his portfolio in the Academy of the Arts program at Allen High School, painting, drawing and exploring his creativity. When it came time for college, he was accepted to Syracuse University with the intention of studying graphic design. “But when I got there, it wasn’t what I expected,” says Halm. He felt he needed something more than to stare at a computer in a lab all day, which led him to major in illustration.
After graduating with his degree in 2002, he thought “Now what?” With the niche dwindling due to digital technology and the hustle of finding freelance jobs, Halm recalls working odd jobs—like with his uncle in plumbing—to get by.
It wasn’t until two years later that he found a call for muralists in the local paper to paint three murals in Allentown. He thought: “If I can paint a picture, I can paint a painting... I can paint a mural.” Although he wasn’t signed on as a head artist, he was able to assist the muralists and learn the craft. And learning is just what he did, as painting a high-rise building can come with some unforeseen challenges.
Halm specifically recalls a moment in his mural career when he was painting the very top corner of a building on 8th Street in Allentown. He was stationed on an electric lift spraying primer on the facade when he happened to look down at the street below and see a man staring up at him, then at his car. The man did this a few times, which had Halm thinking, “Did I drip some paint on his car?” So down he came from the top of the building and found himself in front of the man and his yellow Mustang. Then he saw it: pinhead-sized specks of primer all over the man’s car. “I cleaned that thing so fast,” laughs Halm, recalling grabbing a wet rag and racing to wash the man’s car. “You don’t really know what you’re in for [while painting murals] until you do it a couple times,” Halm says.
Needless to say, although he learned under seasoned muralists what was necessary for the job—how much paint you need, how many brushes to come prepared with, how to navigate scaffolding—there’s always a surprise when you’re a muralist. “Any artist can come up with a sketch on paper, but from there to make it big is really a lot of logistical things,” says Halm.
Matt Halm, Muralist
Halm got his first solo gig painting the side of a restaurant building at 5th and Gordon Streets in 2009, five years after his job as an assistant painter. “It was a pretty funky mural,” he says. “My style, definitely. I put my heart and soul into this.” The mural, although no longer there, still stands as Halm’s favorite. It was his first shot at painting his own mural with leeway to allow his creativity to flow. And with that artistry came recognition.
Halm went on to paint murals in Bethlehem, Catasauqua and a handful in Allentown, as well as in New York and New Jersey. And one might be able to tell his apart from others. “I felt my strength would be going to the next level of symbolism,” Halm says. He calls it doing something other than the generic, or the “vanilla.” And no matter what part of town he’s in, he enjoys turning a blank space into a work of art. “It’s cool seeing people’s reactions to murals,” Halm says. “When you first start out, you prime it and paint it white and then you put a grid on it—and people going by ask if you’re making a calendar,” Halm laughs. “But then as you sketch and draw, people come by and are like ‘Oh, I see. I see.’”
At the least, the goal of a mural is to take away an ugly space, Halm says, but the best you can do is make people want to look after the art. “The ultimate goal is to have them own it in some way, protect it and in an indirect way protect their neighborhood and have pride in their neighborhood,” says Halm. “That’s what you hope for.”
While working on a project, Halm compares himself to a fly on the wall in the neighborhood, witnessing the good and the bad and a lot of in-between. He recalls the story of a middle school student who passed by his mural at 5th and Gordon Streets every day. “There was a kid that would walk by coming home from school and he would talk to me often and ask what I’m doing, ask me questions, and a few times he’d bring me an apple. He’d tell me ‘Here, I got you this apple from school; you’re doing a good job, see you tomorrow,’” says Halm.
A career as a muralist can get cold, however, which is why Halm began teaching with the Allentown School District Foundation. He works with students in an artist-in-residence program involving eight- to 10-week projects. Halm is currently working on one that will allow students in the district’s high schools, middle schools and elementary schools to create their own murals. Each school’s mural, which is created on a panel, will ultimately come together to form one large piece, giving the students ownership of the art. “When it gives them ownership, they want to look after it,” says Halm. He’s even heard many kids say “It’s my mural!” when they’ve helped him paint a section of one of his designs.
While some heartbreak comes with the business, like when someone graffitis over a mural or a new building owner removes Halm’s art, they only push him to keep painting. “My goal is to just keep going, pushing myself to do cool stuff, things that speak to people. It’s a lasting legacy, I guess,” says Halm.
You could say Halm’s life direction was foreshadowed. When Halm was in college, an illustration professor of his left him with a word of advice that sticks with him to this day. Halm didn’t have much money in college to buy art supplies, much less large boards to paint on. So he completed a piece of work on his small board and showed it to his illustration professor who in return said to Halm: “You’re a big man. Paint big.” Halm says at the time he didn’t know what it meant and wasn’t offended by it, but instead was stricken with curiosity. And now he thinks back on it, laughing. “I always remember him saying that, and here I am painting murals.”
