Tom Curry
Artist Statement • Resume

Life on the Maine coast is charged with a brilliance, a wildness. The waters are a living green ecosystem, radiating wonder. There's an urgency to my work because so many of these places are being lost to development.

Nature, ever changing, offers countless compositions. I want to evoke a place, time and atmosphere in my work. The natural world is my big studio, filled with opportunities to observe nature and explore its seamless miracle. Open air painting is a selection process: this sky, these waves, this foreground. It’s not a fragment, but a series of experiences not limited to space and time like a photograph. Many places feel sacred to me, places where the landscape evokes a sense of stewardship and reverence.

I have worked with pastel more than 20 years. The medium's fluidity and immediacy allow me to capture the ever changing light, water, and atmosphere. I often return to work in the same locations with infinite daily results.

Many artists influence my work: Ferdinand Hodler’s open air compositions, Wolf Kahn’s playful colors, Thomas Hart Benton’s roving eye abstrations. I also find inspiration in Corot’s paintings of the Italian countryside, as well in the work of Degas, Bunker, Porter, Hopper and Rockwell Kent.

 

 

---

 

 

Education:

MS, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. 1987
Graduate Studies in Painting, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT. 1982
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. 1981

Teaching Experience:

Instructor, WoodenBoat School, Brooklin, ME. 1998
Instructor, Fine Arts, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA. 1991-92
Instructor, Fine Arts, Cambridge Center for Adult Ed, Cambridge, MA. 1988-94
Instructor, Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Ed, Providence, RI. 1987
Visiting Artist, Smith College, Art Department, Northampton, MA, 1994

Exhibitions:

Leighton Gallery, Blue Hill, ME. 2003
Firehouse Gallery, Damariscotta, ME. 2003
Handworks Gallery, Blue Hill, ME 2003
Leighton Gallery, “Scapes,” Blue Hill, ME. 2002
Firehouse Gallery, “Chasing the Tide,” Damariscotta, ME. 2002
The Clown, “Critters ‘n Scapes,” Portland, ME. 2002
Neighborhood House, “Great Works,” Northeast Harbor, ME. 2001
Firehouse Gallery, “Chasing the Tide,” Damariscotta, ME. 2001
Blue Poppy Gallery, “Flower Portraits 2001,” Sedgwick, ME. 2001
Leighton Gallery, “Maine Landscapes,” Blue Hill, ME. 2001
The Clown, “New Works,” Portland, ME. 2000
Firehouse Gallery, “Solo Show,” Damariscotta, ME. 2000
Leighton Gallery, “New Landscapes,” Blue Hill, ME. 2000
The Clown, “Pastel Paintings,” Portland, ME. 1999
Clark House Gallery, “Pastel Paintings,” Bangor, ME. 1999
Leighton Gallery, “New Works,” Landscapes, Blue Hill, ME. 1998
Gallery, 357 Main Street, Landscapes, Rockland, ME. 1998
Somerville Museum, “The Pastoral Eye.” Landscapes, Central St., Somerville, MA. 1994
Springfield Museum of Arts, Springfield. MA. 1993
Somerville Manning Gallery, “Landscapes,” Greenville, Delaware. 1993
Bromfield Gallery, “Nine,” Boston, MA. 1993
Malton Gallery, “New Artists,” Cincinnati, OH. 1990

Corporate Collections:

Delaware Art Museum
U.S. State Department
Boston Red Sox
Putnam Investments
Boston Company
Federal Reserve Bank Collection
Cambridge Savings Bank
Brigham & Womens Hospital

top