Matthew Sallack

artist Vendor, Past Board Member
2015-2018

Matthew G. Sallack was born in Mississippi in 1984. He and his parents moved to Denton, Texas the next year where he spent all of his childhood. He graduated from Billy Ryan High School in 2003 and moved to San Marcos, Texas to study Communication Design at Texas State University. After graduating with his BFA, he moved to Austin, Texas where he waited tables during the day, and DJ’d at a bar in downtown Austin at night. After a few years, he made the decision to go back to school and pursue a Master’s degree in illustration. In 2009, Sallack moved to San Francisco, California to study Fine Art-Illustration at the Academy of Art University. It was here he honed his illustration skills, developed a distinctive style, and established his company, Otter Illustration. He finished his studies in 2011, and officially graduated in 2012. He then moved back to his hometown of Denton, Texas.

Moving back to Denton, Sallack found odd jobs here and there, waiting tables, working at bars, and at liquor stores. But along the way, Sallack began to get more involved with the Denton art scene. He started volunteering and help teach classes at SCRAP Denton, a reuse/recycle craft store. He also began to showcase his work at various spots around town. He started selling his artwork at the Denton Community Market in 2014 as Otter Illustration. He has since been very active since in showing and selling work at local festivals and events including Denton Arts & Jazzfest, Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival, Dallas Comic-Con, Fort Worth Jingle Bash, DIME’s Handmade Harvest, Oaktopia, and many other ventures. 

In 2015, he took on a leadership role as part of the Denton Community Market’s Board of Directors. As a current vendor, Sallack seeks to offer the vendor perspective as part of this group, as well as think of creative solutions to issues that arise with the objectives of the Denton Community Market. This same year, he joined the co-op at the DIME store, a local handmade gift shop. He can be found in the DIME, working the shop a few times a month as well as stocking his punny greeting cards and animal plushies on the store shelves. Another milestone of 2015, Sallack quit his job, and started working full-time for his own business, Otter Illustration. He has had success diversifying his product line, creating postcards, stickers, magnets, prints, plushies, greeting cards, and even handbags. Last year, he released his first book, “Arrhinoceratops to Zephryosaurus: a Dino ABC Book.” You can find his stuff online at www.theOtterShop.com, in stock at the DIME store, and on pretty much any given Saturday at the Denton Community Market.