Hand built bronze sculpture by Tom Walsh
Tom Walsh produces great design and quality craftsmanship that is affordable for your selected environments!
BIO
Thomas Walsh was born in Chicago in 1937. He received his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Michigan in 1962. Walsh taught at Southern Illinois University for 37 years during which time he was Head of the Graduate Sculpture Program. His sculpture and drawings have been featured in 56 solo exhibitions and his work is represented in over 60 public collections. Currently he resides in San Jose where he works, along with his wife Linda, at the San Jose State University Art Foundry.
ARTIST STATMENT
For the past 40 years I have attempted to condense and distill sculptural metaphors related to basic themes in my work that have been gestating since 1963: sacred-profane / life-death / transformation, etc. The parameters and focus of my work have been clearly established for at least 35 years. The perception, distillation and evolution of my metaphors are ongoing concerns and will remain so. My sources are wide-ranging and encompass artists as seemingly disparate as Giselbertus, St. John of the Cross, Pascal, Baudelaire, Manzu and Eliade. I am, also, continuously fascinated by the symbology of such structures as the Arch of Titus, the portals of gothic cathedrals, the St. Louis Arch…and the axis-mundi of Indian tepees.
My choice of cast metal, especially bronze, as a medium, is crucial. The enormous flexibility, the permanence, the carrying-power, and the transformation implications are essential to the type of statement…both universal and personal…I wish to make. Bronze is, also, and affirmation of the past, and a conscious attempt to synthesize with it. Conversely, my love of cast aluminum lies in the fact that it is a contemporary metal and carries no art historical baggage.
TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL
1962 – 1967 Assistant Professor, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky
1967 – 1999 Professor, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois
1971 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant
1972 – 1974 Rome Prize for Sculpture
1976 Illinois Arts Council Project Completion Grant
1977 – 1978 Artist in Residence, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California
1979 Kresge Challenge Grant for SIU Art Foundry
1980 NEA Project Grant
Residency at Millay Colony (Summer)1981 Residency at the Handhollow Foundation (Summer)
Residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Fall)1982 Caldwell Resident in the Arts, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
Residency at the Ragdale Foundation (Summer)1983 Residency at the Ragdale Foundation (Summer)
1985 Residency at the Ragdale Foundation (Summer)
1987 Residency at the Ragdale Foundation (Summer)
1988 Residency at Kohler Arts-Industry Program, Kohler, Wisconsin (Fall Semester)
1993 Illinois Arts Council Grant
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1962 RACKHAM GALLERY, Ann Arbor, Michigan
KALAMAZOO ART CENTER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH, Sewanee, Tennessee1963 LOUISVILLE ART CENTER, Louisville, Kentucky
MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY, Murray, Kentucky1964 UNIVERSITY OF CHATTANOOGA, Chattanooga, Tennessee
NORTH GEORGIA STATE COLLEGE, Gainesville, Georgia1965 AUSTIN PEAY UNIVERSITY, Clarksville, Tennessee
1967 MIAMI UNIVERSITY, Oxford, Ohio
LACLEDE GALLERY, St. Louis, Missouri1969 LOUISVILLE ART CENTER, Louisville, Kentucky
PEORIA ART CENTER, Peoria, Illinois1970 NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, Notre Dame, Indiana
UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE, Evansville, Indiana1974 AMERICAN ACADEMY, Rome, Italy
1975 DAVID STRAWN GALLERY, Jacksonville, Illinois
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY, Bozeman, Montana1976 EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, Richmond, Kentucky
SPRINGFIELD ART ASSOCIATION, Springfield, Illinois
MITCHELL GALLERY, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois1977 ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM, Springfield, Illinois
OLNEY CENTRAL COLLEGE, Olney, Illinois1978 HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY, Arcata, California
1979 ILLINOIS ART COUNCIL GALLERIES, Chicago, Illinois
WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Macomb, Illinois1980 BEREA COLLEGE, Berea, Kentucky
1981 BETHANY COLLEGE, Lindsborg, Kansas
EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Emporia, Kansas1983 SANGAMON STATE UNIVERSITY, Springfield, Illinois
1985 MITCHELL MUSEUM, Mount Vernon, Illinois
ANDEN GALLERY, St. Louis, Missouri
ANDERSON COLLEGE, Anderson, Indiana
GOVERNOR’S STATE UNIVERSITY, Park Forest, Illinois
1986 CONTEMPORARY ART WORKSHOP, Chicago, Illinois
1987 ARC GALLERY, Chicago, Illinois
THE TOLEDO MUSEUM SCHOOL OF ART, Toledo, Ohio1988 THE TRITON MUSEUM OF ART, Santa Clara, California
MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY, Decatur, Illinois1989 FAIRWEATHER HARDIN GALLERY, Chicago, Illinois
1990 WEBSTER UNIVERSITY, St. Louis, Missouri
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Carbondale, Illinois
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Richmond,Virginia1992 JOHN LOGAN COLLEGE, Carterville, Illinois
1995 TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, Fort Worth, Texas
1999 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Carbondale, Illinois
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
KALAMAZOO ART CENTER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL, Louisville, Kentucky
MINT MUSEUM, Charlotte, North Carolina
SPEED MUSEUM, Louisville, Kentucky
BEREA COLLEGE, Berea, Kentucky
MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY, Murray, Kentucky
ST. PAUL ART CENTER, St. Paul, Minnesota
TYLER MUSEUM, Tyler, Texas
PEMBROKE UNIVERSITY, Pembroke, North Carolina
LAFAYETTE ART CENTER, Lafayette, Louisiana
UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE, Evansville, Indiana
DEL MAR COLLEGE, Corpus, Christi, Texas
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY, Bozeman, Montana
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Carbondale, Illinois
ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM, Springfield, Illinois
BALL STATE UNIVERSITY, Muncie, Indiana
CHATTANOOGA UNIVERSITY, Chattanooga, Tennessee
JOSLYN MUSEUM, Omaha, Nebraska
DELGADO MUSEUM, New Orleans, Louisiana
AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME, Rome, Italy
BETHANY COLLEGE, Lindsborg, Kansas
APPALACHIAN UNIVERSITY, Boone, North Carolina
EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Emporia, Kansas
SANGAMON STATE UNIVERSITY, Springfield, Illinois
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Edwardsville, Illinois
MANKATO STATE UNIVERSITY, Mankato, Minnesota
COLLEGE OF DU PAGE, Wheaton, Illinois
MITCHELL MUSEUM, Mt. Vernon Illinois
ANDERSON COLLEGE, Anderson, Indiana
STATE OF ILLINOIS BUILDING, Chicago, Illinois
MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY, Decatur, Illinois
THE TRITON MUSEUM OF ART, Santa Clara, California
SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, Rohnert Park, California
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Richmond, Virginia
COLLEGE OF THE DESERT, Palm Desert, California
CITY OF PALM DESERT, Palm Desert, California
THE KOHLER CORPORATION, Kohler, Wisconsin
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, Fort Worth, Texas
J. M. KOHLER ART CENTER, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART, Portland, Oregon
