tcmsculptures

This work is comprised of 55 hand-painted, stainless steel fish suspended 14 feet above the floor. The piece is intended to simulate stringers of fish safely held after being caught. Of course, the title is a double entendre for, while the work appears to be “raining” fish, it is named for the Queen fish which is covered in 24k gold leaf and crowned. She is the Reigning Fish. (Zoom in the last image for a good look.)

FOR ALL OTHER WORKS CREATED SINCE LATE 2018 CLICK HERE.

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• TT, Tom’s Turtle (7 feet 6 inches long) was installed July 2025…
• REIGNING FISH, by all measures, my largest commission in 15 years was completed and installed in June 2022 in a beautiful home on Walloon Lake in Michigan.
• For the past two and a half years . . .
• Donated Artwork and Website Redesign
• Going Back to Manhattan . . . December 2015

• TT, Tom’s Turtle (7 feet 6 inches long) was installed July 2025…
• REIGNING FISH, by all measures, my largest commission in 15 years was completed and installed in June 2022 in a beautiful home on Walloon Lake in Michigan.
• For the past two and a half years . . .
• Donated Artwork and Website Redesign
• Going Back to Manhattan . . . December 2015

I have been sculpting and painting. But the last time I posted my new work on this website was the summer of 2016, more than two and half years ago.

Sometimes a balance between creating and posting is difficult to achieve.

My work, about 75 pieces, from the past 30 months is collected and displayed in four galleries. By clicking on the following pages you can see the images:  2017 Sculptures, 2017 Paintings, 2018 Sculptures and 2018 Paintings.

Finally, to the right you can see two sculptures that I donated to the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey Michigan, for their 2017 and 2018 funding drive. Not pictured are two oil paintings that I also donated.

Thank you for coming to view my work. I appreciate and am grateful for your interest.

Best, Tom Martin

Hello Today and here’s the News–

Donated Artwork:

In July 2016 I donated two of my works to the Crooked Tree Art Center (CTAC) in Petoskey, near our summer home on Walloon Lake. (The local art scene around here is a happening place and I am happy to support it.) These works, along with many donated by other artists, serve as the basis of the CTAC’s annual D’Art for Art fund raiser.  Art patrons pay to attend a delightful dinner and wine tasting evening.  At the appointed hour each table of patrons gets to “D’Art” for the artwork they desire.

The two works I donated can be seen in the side bars to the right. These two works plus all the artists’ contributions are very smartly displayed in the 2016 D’Art for Art catalog.

Website Re-Design 

I redesigned my website to categorize my works into several series. The subject matter of which–dancers, butterflies, fish, trees etc.–inspires my creations more often than not. For this reason, all works that are part of these categories are identified on the new pages I made to signify the series.

You can begin a tour of the works in each of these series by clicking here on the Works in a Series. 

I hope you enjoy the tour of my site and the images of my work.

Best regards, Tom Martin

This December I am once again exhibiting in New York City. I will install four sculptures in the 20th Annual Friends of the Pleiades Invitational exhibition at the Pleiades Gallery located in Chelsea at 530 West 25th Street, NY NY 10001.

This Pleiades show opens on December 29 and runs through January 23, 2016. The Exhibition Reception and Opening Party is on Saturday, January 9, 2016 from 3 to 6 pm. I would love to see you there.

The series of four works I am taking to New York can be seen below. In addition, this posting contains images of about a dozen new oil paintings and another dozen or so sculptures so far this year.

As well as exhibiting in New York through January 2016, I am pleased to announce that I joined the Crooked Tree Arts Center (CTAC) in Petoskey Michigan (near our summer place). CTAC offers outstanding programs, classes and exhibitions for the arts.

In addition, I am donating a sculpture to the center that will be auctioned off next summer in CTAC’s D’Art for Art benefit which is the principal fund raising event for the center’s programs and operations.

More on future events at Exhibitions but for now . . .

The Sculptures for the Pleiades Show 

Of the four works going to NYC this December my muse says, “I guess you’re in your ‘fish phase’ now.”  I admit it is so. After all, it was a fish sculpture that got me to New York in the first place!

These four works are more than just fish representations. As a series, they constitute a study of the evolution of form and design that begins with three elemental strokes (Three Piece Fish) and finishes with a flashy specimen (Egyptian Tigerfish) that, despite its ornamentation, retains a notable hint of this elemental form amidst the glamour.

Click here to see images of the New York-bound piscine sculptures and see if you follow the evolution of this form.

Thanks for visiting my website and for your interest.

Best, Tom

As the last in a series of three exhibitions inspired by the New Hope Arts Exhibition Committee, the 2015 Season Premiere Exhibition at New Hope Arts features the Top Ten artists from the Sep 2014 Members Juried Show.  New Hope Arts flatteringly refers to these 10 artists as the “cutting edge of regional talent”.

Each of the 10 artists will exhibit multiple works and the event kicks off on Saturday, February 7th from 6 to 8 pm.  Click here to see the New Hope Arts write-up of the 2015 Juror’s Choice Exhibition and then return to see my offerings below.

I am taking six works for the exhibition. Given winter’s chill, my works focus on “the warmth and beauty of copper”.   If you visited the Pleiades Gallery in NYC this past month, you saw three of these pieces. But, there are three new, or kind of new, sculptures going to the New Hope Season Premiere show.

Click here to see images of all my work to be exhibited and/or you can see these sculptures in person at the New Hope Arts 2015 Season Premiere reception on February 7th from 6 to 8 pm. I hope to see you there!

Finally, a few weeks ago, the Pleiades Gallery (located in Chelsea NYC) had a magnificent opening reception for the 19th Annual Friends of the Pleiades Invitational Exhibition. Ellen Bradshaw (Pleiades Gallery President) and everyone else at Pleiades was professional, encouraging and friendly.

How could you feel better about an event than that, not to mention that two doors from the Pleiades was a Picasso exhibit?!  Click here to see images of the work and the Pleiades artists’ reception.

Thanks again for visiting my website. I welcome you back anytime.

Best Regards, Tom Martin

January 2015

On Saturday, September 6, I traveled from northern Michigan to Philadelphia to attend the opening reception (and season kick off event) of New Hope Arts’ exhibition titled: “New Hope to New York” where my sculpture, Fish, was exhibited. When I arrived in Philadelphia, I met my youngest son, William, and we traveled together to the show. For that reason alone, I was ahead of the game.

What a great event it was and so well-conceived, installed and hosted by New Hope Arts through the efforts of Carol Cruickshank, Executive Director, and Christine Ramirez, Exhibition Specialist.

The evening was made even more special by the thoughtfulness of the show’s curator and juror, Ellen Bradshaw, President of Pleiades Gallery of Contemporary Art located in Chelsea section of New York City. In her selection of the ten Juror’s Choice awards (of which Fish was one) Ms. Bradshaw took pains to make special notes and write commentaries for each of the works selected on the basis of its “…worthiness for presentation to the New York art scene.”

I was compelled to read each of the other Juror’s Choice commentaries before reading the one she wrote for Fish, my sculpture. It was so refreshing to get a sense of Ms. Bradshaw’s viewpoint, sensitivities and critique. In one instance, I believe, she likened a painting to poetry. How precious is that?

Ms. Bradshaw was most generous in her assessment of Fish and for this I am very, very grateful. Thank you Ellen for the kind words.

And thanks to all for visiting. Best regards, Tom Martin

Click here to view the Juror’s Choice commentary on my work Fish.

Recently, I entered a juried exhibition at the New Hope Arts Center [New Hope PA]. My entry was titled, Fish, a stainless steel work with inlaid brass.  Fish was selected among the Top Ten Works by the curator evaluating the work on the basis of its “…worthiness for presentation to the New York art scene.”  Ms. Ellen Bradshaw, President of the New York-based Pleiades Gallery in Chelsea is the curator of the show.

A series of three exhibitions will be presented to the artists whose work was selected among the Top Ten. The Opening Reception of these shows is Saturday, September 6 in New Hope PA. (I’ll be there so come on by.) This first show runs through September 28. Following that, each of the Top Ten artists will present multiple works at an exhibit at New Hope Arts Center early in 2015. The exhibition series will culminate with an installation of the Top Ten artists’ work at Ms. Bradshaw’s Pleiades Gallery in Chelsea. Timing TBD.

Other New Work in 2014

In addition to the Fish, many of my new sculptures likewise revolve around a marine theme including the works: Desert Island, Out of the Blue, Penguins and Sailboat. (See all new sculptures below.)

Also, in 2014 I painted oil and oil pastels and sketched. My works range from oil studies in perspective (Sunny Side Up and Moonlight on the Farmhouse); to practice of the velatura technique (Willows in the Mist) and finally to oil pastel practice in Paris this past spring (Jardin du Luxembourg).  (During our trip to France, we toured and tasted the wines of the Bordeaux region chateau pictured to the right.)

New Sculptures and New Paintings are listed below and can be viewed by clicking here: 

Fish, stainless steel with inlaid brass (8x16x42) [Jul 2014]

Desert Island, steel and copper on aluminum base (18x18x20) [Jun 2014]

Out of the Blue, stainless steel on cedar (18x20x45) [May 2014]

Penguins, stainless steel (6x6x8) [Jun 2014]

Sailboat, redwood (4x6x6) [Aug 2014]

Dogs’ Empathy, steel dog on left (4x24x30) [May 2014]

Tribute to a Cedar, cedar wood (30x36x46) [Aug 2014]

New Paintings, etc. 

Sunny Side Up, oil on canvas (16×20) [Mar 2014]

Moonlight on the Farmhouse, oil on canvas (11×16) [Mar 2014]

Willows in the Mist, oil on canvas (16×20) [Jan 2014]

Jardin du Luxembourg, oil pastel on paper (9×12) [May 2014]

Red Umbrella, oil imprimatur (11×16) [Jan 2014]

Rosa La Rouge, pen and ink and oil (after Toulouse-Lautrec) (14×28) [Feb 2014]

French Peasant Fowl, pen and ink (9×12) [Jan 2014]

Thanks for your interest in my work and I will keep you apprised of future work and exhibitions.

Best, Tom Martin

Artist sculpts nose, glues on curly beard and recreates a memorable Fidel Castro for his Halloween costume. [File images below.]

NSA has been tracking his metadata ever since!!!

NSA’s official spokesperson, who must remain anonymous, released this statement from the Agency’s DC operations center: “No threat is too small.”

The statement failed to identify whether Martin or Castro was the smaller threat.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

OK, what you just read is fiction, except for sculpted nose and Castro Halloween costume parts . . . at least I think the rest is fiction. I am getting a lot of phone calls from random numbers and locations. Hmmm . . . . .

Since you are already here, perhaps you’d like to stay and see some of my recent works–both sculptures and paintings. There are 19 new pieces displayed throughout the site. The list below will help you sort through what is new from my existing body of work  . . .  and you can get a Sneak Peak at a couple of water sculptures/fountains for spring. (To the right are a couple of photos I snapped in the past few weeks.)

This post’s Featured Work is a commission piece called The Penguin (Dec 2013). It is made of forged steel that was then treated in a bronzing process.  Click here for the slideshow of how The Penguin came to be.

New Paintings–located in Painting Gallery can be viewed individually below:

Paris Flat (Feb 2013) oil pastel

More Hay Bales (Aug 2013) oil on canvas

White Pines (Aug 2013) oil on canvas

Sunflowers (Dec 2013-reworked) oil on canvas

‘Meet the Dogs’ and other wire sculptures 

Meet the Dogs  steel and copper wire

Joy, steel wire 

Dragonfly, stainless steel

Miscellaneous metal and other sculptures

Butterfly, bronze with patina

Entropy, stainless steel

Figure and Sphere, forged steel

Time, steel

Get Well Sculpture, stainless steel

Thin Man, forged steel

Prophet’s Hand, forged and bronzed steel–reworked from earlier version

Sneak Peaks at New Patio Fountains for Spring

Thanks very much for your interest in my work.  When I get some more completed, you’ll be the first to know.

Best regards, Tom Martin

December 2013