Artist Edi Matsumoto is creating her unique artistic empire, and much more.
Nurse practitioner Edi Matsumoto used to paint in a little studio by the Church of the Wayfarer in Carmel. Now she has her own gallery, Edi Matsumoto Art and Design.
Thirty years ago, when she worked as a nurse’s aid and commuted to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, Matsumoto could not have envisioned becoming a full-time artist with a gallery in Carmel. “It’s unbelievable,” she says, sitting at her desk. There are aisles on the other side of the room, where Matsumoto paints between conversations with customers. And customers always want to talk about the otters.
On the walls hang Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and Munch’s “Scream,” except the faces – the girl’s, the enigmatic Italian’s and that of the terrified man – are actually otter faces, with their furry round heads and their big eyes. Everybody wants them.
Before “otterizing,” Matsumoto painted medical specialists, whose faces and troubles she knows so well from her own experience and that of her husband’s, a physician. She got involved with Venture Gallery in Monterey, both as an artist and a leader. “That’s how I learned about the gallery business,” she says. “But I never wanted to open a gallery.”
Weekly: So what changed?
Matsumoto: As a full-time artist, I had time to learn and take classes, from self-help and spiritual classes to conscientious business workshops. Then, in November 2023, someone asked me if I was interested in this space [she looks around] that was built as a gallery space. The owner of the building wanted to rent it to an artist. At first, I didn’t take it seriously. But then I thought, “I’m almost 60 and I might regret not doing it.” So I was thinking, now or never.
So you are a businessperson now.
I never thought I would be a businessperson because I didn’t think it was in me. But the more I learned business, I thought: It’s doable. I’ve been trying to sell art for 10 years or something, and now it’s happening.
In the morning, the space is my office. I do inventory planning, marketing and financing. But in the afternoon, I paint. People come in and I enjoy talking to them. I can spend the whole hour talking to someone who is thinking about becoming an artist.
Also, once a month I do sort of a Bohemian club, gathering creative people, from poets to filmmakers. We meet and do networking and I usually pick two or three people in advance to give a presentation.
How did the otter madness start?
Somebody commissioned me to do this “Scream” otter. She wanted to combine both of her favorite things, a favorite painting and a favorite animal. And that’s how I found my niche. I realized that I can otterize many famous paintings, from Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to Magritte’s “The Son of Man.”
I had a great time. By the time I opened the gallery, I had already 10 or 15 otters. I put some on the window and people started to respond with laughter and giggles and often buy a print. They also give me ideas: “Oh, you should do Einstein,” or “You should do Elvis.” So I had a long list.
Your place is called Art and Design. Let’s talk about the design part.
I started to do wearable art. I did my first one in 2022, just for myself. Then I was contacted by a company in Montreal who suggested putting my art on clothing. I liked the result. Now I do dresses, but also tunic pants, leggings, scarfs and bags.
You do a lot of things at the same time.
I have another big plan now, and I’m hoping this will be a game changer. I’m writing a book called Otter Therapy. So many people asked me if I had a catalog, because people cannot decide which otter to buy. For example, a wife wanted to buy six otters and her husband said, “Oh my god, it seems that we’re going to buy everything. We have to get otter here.”
There are many otter jokes people come out with. I started to make a list and I will include them in my book. They say I’m otterizing people. The book won’t have much text, and is the perfect coffee table book to brighten your day.
I can see that you have a couple of other artists in the gallery.
Yes. Ninety percent of the art is mine, but I do have two others now. My vision is to help young, emerging and under-represented artists to show their work in Carmel.