Matthew Lawrence was born in York, England in 1965. In 1996 he became a citizen of the United States and he is currently residing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He received his BFA degree from Brighton University in England in 1988 and his MFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 1990.
Matthew Lawrence has exhibited extensively and received numerous grants for his work. His grant awards include two Pennsylvania State Arts Council Awards, a National Endowment for the Arts - Works on Paper Award, an Art Matters Fellowship Award, and a Maryland State Arts Council - Individual Artist Award. Lawrence has exhibited throughout the United States, most notably at The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA, The Lancaster Museum of Art, PA, and at Franklin Furnace, New York, NY.
Lawrence's work has been included in several international traveling exhibitions including; Elvis + Marilyn: 2xImmortal which visited eleven museums in the United States before traveling to Japan, and Philadelphia Print USA, a printmaking exhibition sponsored by the Print Club of Philadelphia which travels to Estonia and Latvia. Lawrence has also been an artist in residence at the Millay Colony for the Arts, New York and Dieu Donne Papermaking Mill, New York. He has lectured about his work at various universities and colleges including Penn State University and Dickinson College and he was also a speaker at The College Art Association Conference in New York.
Lawrence has also been included in Susan Tallsman's book Contemporary Printmaking: Pre Pop to Postmodern (Thames & Hudson, 1996) a survey of contemporary printmakers and Lynne Munson's book, Art in an Era of Intolerance , (Ivan R. Dee, 2002). Lawrence has also been a juror for the Illinois Arts Council regional art awards in 1998. Additionally he has been involved in numerous invitational and juried group exhibitions.