CV | Resume | Career Timeline | Tearsheets
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An ex-corporate suit, ex-bartender, former United States Marine, world traveler, image maker, potter, educator, and storyteller, Matt Rose is challenging perspectives by creating space in the circles he has access to for those who do not have the same access.
He graduated cum laude from the Corcoran School of Art at George Washington University with a B.F.A. in Photojournalism, and cum laude from California State University, Northridge with an M.F.A. in Visual Arts, concentrating in photography and photojournalism.
Rose currently teaches Digital Photography at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he has been lecturing since 2019 across the College of Environmental Design and the Master of Interior Architecture program, and at Pasadena City College, where he teaches production and commercial photography and lighting. He has also taught wheel throwing and hand building pottery classes at Green and Bisque Clayhouse in Pasadena, CA. Colleagues who've observed his classroom describe it as energetic and well organized, with a playful, hands on teaching style grounded in a clear mastery of the subject and a genuine investment in his students' growth.
At his core, Rose is a maker and an educator, and much of his work lives in the space between those two identities: he learns by making, and he teaches by sharing what the making has taught him.
He has worked on several video projects, including an ongoing investigation of Fetish, and served as Director of Photography for UNDER CONSTRUCTION, an official selection at Outfest 2014. His photography and writing have appeared in The Washington Post, ABC News, E! News, The Advocate, KQED, the Associated Press, Colorado Wildlife Magazine, PUSH, Mascular Magazine, and San Diego LGBT Weekly, among others.
His work has shown internationally, including at FotoWeek DC, the Corcoran International Exhibition, (e)Merge, and as part of a 2021 conference marking the 70th anniversary of the UN Convention on Refugees. He is the recipient of the Corcoran College of Art + Design Outstanding Leadership Award and was a semifinalist for Innovation in Motion and Video in Education in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards.
Beyond the classroom and the camera, Rose serves as Vice President of the Board of Trustees at Appel Farm Music and Arts Organization, where he also chairs the Program Committee and sits on the Finance, Nominating and Governance, and Facilities committees; he serves as a school board member for the Creativity CoLaboratory Charter School He is also Treasurer for the 19th Ward Community Association in Rochester, NY.
When he's not behind a camera, in front of a classroom, or traveling, Rose tends his backyard garden and bakes an accomplished loaf of sourdough, proof that his hands stay busy no matter the medium.