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BIO

Tom Walsh

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.

Tom Walsh Sculpture

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, Tennessee

1963                               LOUISVILLE ART CENTER, Louisville, Kentucky

                                        MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY, Murray, Kentucky

 

1964                               UNIVERSITY OF CHATTANOOGA, Chattanooga, Tennessee

                                        NORTH GEORGIA STATE COLLEGE, Gainesville, Georgia

 

1965                               AUSTIN PEAY UNIVERSITY, Clarksville, Tennessee

 

1967                               MIAMI UNIVERSITY, Oxford, Ohio

                                        LACLEDE GALLERY, St. Louis, Missouri

 

1969                               LOUISVILLE ART CENTER, Louisville, Kentucky

                                        PEORIA ART CENTER, Peoria, Illinois

 

1970                               NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, Notre Dame, Indiana

                                        UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE, Evansville, Indiana

 

1974                               AMERICAN ACADEMY, Rome, Italy

 

1975                               DAVID STRAWN GALLERY, Jacksonville, Illinois

                                        MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY, Bozeman, Montana

 

1976                               EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, Richmond, Kentucky

                                        SPRINGFIELD ART ASSOCIATION, Springfield, Illinois

                                        MITCHELL GALLERY, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

 

1977                                ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM, Springfield, Illinois

                                        OLNEY CENTRAL COLLEGE, Olney, Illinois

 

1978                                HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY, Arcata, California

 

1979                                ILLINOIS ART COUNCIL GALLERIES, Chicago, Illinois

                                        WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Macomb, Illinois

1980                                BEREA COLLEGE, Berea, Kentucky

 

1981                                BETHANY COLLEGE, Lindsborg, Kansas

                                        EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Emporia, Kansas

 

1983                               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, Ohio

 

1988                               THE TRITON MUSEUM OF ART, Santa Clara, California

                                        MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY, Decatur, Illinois

 

1989                               FAIRWEATHER HARDIN GALLERY, Chicago, Illinois

                                        SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Carbondale, Illinois

                                        UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Richmond,Virginia

 

1990                               WEBSTER UNIVERSITY, St. Louis, Missouri

1992                                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

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