Tom Anderson

I am usually not thinking so much about a finished work, but am inspired, accepting and mystified by the process of creating it. I see each of my works as a rehearsal in enduring uncertainty. I strive to be deliberate in my approach, although I am fascinated by re-creating a condition where I am out of my depth, uncertain, no longer feeling in control, yet generating something. Creating an atmosphere that encourages risk and stepping outside the comfort zone of what I think I know and enter those uncertain realms of what I am about to discover, and to use those discoveries as a basis for perception and action.

  The materials I use are often found or recycled metals, i.e. copper, aluminum, steel or brass. The application of specific chemical formulas and patinas create a variety of color and texture, which become my "canvas" for the addition of other elements i.e. gold leaf, pastel, graphite, and varnishes. Images, shapes, and colors are often spontaneous events as I am influenced by the relationship of these materials to each other--the union of opposites.

  All the elements combined, physically as well as metaphorically, are among the tools I use to continually re-invent and express the dynamics of my own life, as well as to hopefully reflect to the viewer the dynamics and emotion of their own spirit.

The rest is trusting my intuition, having faith in the possibilities, and a knowingness of when to quit.