A Brush with Grace: Matt Klooster Brings Hope and Healing as a Volunteer and Artist

A clear thread runs between Matt Klooster’s paintings and his volunteer work at St. Francis Seraph Ministries (SFSM): focusing on God’s creations that otherwise might go unnoticed or passed by.

As a student at St. Xavier High School in the late 1990s, Matt found a deep joy and satisfaction volunteering for SFSM. Filling guests’ cups at dinner filled his cup spiritually. Explains Matt: “It felt good to make people who otherwise might not feel of value realize their value — realize that they are valued enough to be served and cared for.”

As an adult, Matt took up painting as a creative release from a career rooted in science, data, and logic.

“What I try to have come out of my artwork is a spiritual connection to something greater,” says Matt, a biology professor at University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. “I find a real connection to nature, especially things that are overlooked and underappreciated. I try to make them larger than life so others can appreciate them too.”

When Matt returned to Cincinnati after living out of town, he knew he wanted to volunteer at SFSM again. Since the beginning of the year, he’s been helping to serve dinner once a week. And now, a piece of him is always present, even when he’s not there.

This fall, he donated a print of one of his oil paintings, “Rising Above,” to hang in the foyer outside the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Dining Room.

Over the years, fans of Matt’s artwork have told him his pieces are spiritual, calming, and even therapeutic. His art has been displayed in hospitals and other spaces of healing.

“As I was volunteering, it occurred to me that a piece of mine might speak to someone who’s fallen on hard times – grief, loss, addiction, homelessness,” Matt says. “Somebody may view that work and derive something meaningful from it. My motivation is to put something out into the world that might be healing for someone else.”

Matt has found his own form of healing as a volunteer. He treasures the sense of community and the friendships he’s developed with staff members and fellow volunteers alike.

“Everyone is approaching this work with a shared heart,” he says. “It’s hard in this day and age to cut through the layers of the way people present themselves. The staff presents with open hearts, and the volunteers arrive with open hearts. That shared humanity is ever present. This is community in a real, powerful way.”