Tom Waldron: 11 Sculptures

Tom Waldron: 11 Sculptures

Cover: Agate, 2020

11 Sculptures

They appear like the shadowed shapes of sleek ships, distant on a calm sea. Or like strange and perfect stones, worn smooth by wind and rain. A whale, rising from the deep. Elegant and compelling, Tom Waldron’s sculptures do what good sculpture does best – altering space, filling and moving the three-dimensional, and pulling the viewer into their orbits.

And they do. Like tiny planets, the weight and density of the pieces (even as images on a screen) act like gravity, pulling eye, mind, and body into their sphere of influence, drawing the viewer along their curves and lines. It is almost as if the pull of them touches something internal, in the belly, and the movement of the pieces – the sliding planes of Agate, the energetic curve of Sledge, the precarious twist of Rumble, the gentle, gathering dive of Streamline – draws the viewer into an internal movement that matches the external.

A high school trip to see David Smith’s Royal Bird was one of the sparks that led Waldron to a life making art, though he detoured briefly into architecture and urban planning, getting his BA from the University of Minnesota. However, a desire to create and the experience of welding eventually led him to a life making sculpture. His love for the physical aspects of making and working with his materials is clear. When asked what aspect of the process he loves most, Waldron identifies the cutting torch. “This involves getting into a very still position, focusing intently on the edge of a flame, and very slowly advancing, at a rate determined by the melting steel,” he says, and the delicate balance of force and precision, fire and steel, are clear in his words.

Waldron has primarily worked with steel in his career – utilizing 1/4 or 3/16 inch plates. These are rolled to spec by Kohlhaas Corp, in Albuquerque on a machine that is used to make the curves of water and fuel tanks. This is the only part of the work which Waldron does not do himself. He cuts the pieces, tack welding the sections together, then sanding the seams with an angle grinder to give them their unique finish.

It is the lines of the edges and shapes of the curves that often determine for Waldron what the finished shape of a sculpture will be. Minute changes affect the whole. The pieces often take time to develop, with Waldron changing the orientation of a piece here, turning another there, sketching or creating cardboard mock-ups to develop and explore the pieces’ complex and graceful geometries.

We often walk through the world without thinking, without noticing or feeling the objects, buildings, plants, people, around us. Sculpture works to make us stop and pay attention to the three-dimensional.

Tom Waldron’s sculptures, with their evocative grace, are marvels of paradox to stump our busy, everyday minds. How a curved panel of steel can look soft, how light hitting at a certain angle can completely change the way one sees a shape, the way a strange geometry can spark such visceral response. Something stirs within, a memory of something vast and ancient, something mysterious.

And it changes the way we walk through the world.

-- Michaela Kahn, PhD

White Cloud 2, 2019, painted wood, 5 x 80 x 6 inches

Sledge, 2020, steel, 98 x 31 x 28 inches

Swallowtail 2, 2014-20, painted steel on concrete base, 40 x 12 x 22 inches

Shelf 1 (Blue), 2019-20, wood, hydrostone, paint, 10.5 x 40 x 5.5 inches

Rumble, 2019, steel, 44 x 24 x 26 inches

Cedar Baleen, 2019, wood & oil stain, 3.5 x 32 x 3.5 inches

Fender, 2020, steel, 94 x 21 x 30 inches

Gray Cloud, 2020, painted wood, 6 x 77 x 6 inches

Streamline, 2020, steel, 74 x 17 x 25 inches

Shelf 2 (Red), 2019-20, wood, hydrostone, paint, 10.5 x 40 x 5.5 inches

Agate, 2020, steel, 42 x 34 x 38 inches

$36,000

White Cloud 2, 2019 painted wood 5 x 80 x 6 inches TW034 Click to inquire about this work

$10,000

Fender, 2020 steel 94 x 21 x 30 inches TW025 Click to inquire about this work

Sledge, 2020 steel 98 x 31 x 28 inches TW033 Click to inquire about this work

$40,000

Gray Cloud, 2020 painted wood 6 x 77 x 6 inches TW028 Click to inquire about this work

$10,000

Swallowtail 2, 2014-20 painted steel on concrete base 40 x 12 x 22 inches TW035 Click to inquire about this work

$12,000

Streamline, 2020 steel 74 x 17 x 25 inches TW024 Click to inquire about this work

$24,000

Shelf 1 (Blue), 2019-20 wood, hydrostone, paint 10.5 x 40 x 5.5 inches TW031 Click to inquire about this work

$6,000

Shelf 2 (Red), 2019-20 wood, hydrostone, paint 10.5 x 40 x 5.5 inches TW032 Click to inquire about this work

$6,000

Rumble, 2019 steel 44 x 24 x 26 inches TW029 Click to inquire about this work

$20,000

Agate, 2020 steel 42 x 34 x 38 inches TW030 Click to inquire about this work

$30,000

Cedar Baleen, 2019 wood & oil stain 3.5 x 32 x 3.5 inches TW027 Click to inquire about this work

$5,000

Back cover: Agate, 2020 (detail)

Born: 1953 in Minneapolis, Minnesota Education: 1977 – 79 1976

1972 – 73

University of New Mexico Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Minnesota University of Notre Dame

Selected Solo Exhibitions: 2016, 12, 10, 07 William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2014 Leslie Sacks Contemporary, Santa Monica, CA 2008, 00, 97, 95 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ 2005 Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM 2002, 93, 92 Linda Durham Gallery, New York, NY 2001 Quint Gallery, La Jolla, CA 2000 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ 1999, 96 Conlon Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1992, 90 Conlon Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1987 Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque, NM 1985 Wright Gallery, Dallas, TX 1984 Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM Selected Group Exhibitions: 2019 American University, Washginton, DC

516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM 2017 Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM

Zietgiest, Nashville, TN 2013 Nautilus, William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2009 Elmurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL 2005 Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY 2004 Contemporary Arts in the Public Realm, Albuquerque, NM 1999 The Minimalist Tradition in New Mexico, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 1998 Finding the Familiar, Zietgiest, Nashville, TN 1998, 97 Pierwalk ’98, ‘97, Chicago, IL 1997, 91 New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM 1996 Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM 1994 El Mundo de Arte de Nuevo Mexico, Guadalahara, Mexico 1990 Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM 1990, 87 Albuquerque Museum of Fine Art, Albuquerque, NM Selected Collections: Colorado State University UNM Hospital, Albuquerque City of Durango, Colorado University of New Mexico New Mexico Museum of Art Wheaton Public Library, IL Scripps Hospital, La Jolla, CA Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY State of New Mexico

Santa Fe Community College University of New Mexico - Gallup New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts Albuquerque Public Library Albuquerque Museum

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