¶
Artist's Statement
Tom Bartel studied at Ball State University, majoring in Sculpture and Art Education. He graduated with honors: Honorary Summa Cum Laude and Outstanding Art Senior, for which he was awarded his first one man show at the university art museum. Today Tom teaches at Richmond High School in Richmond, Indiana. He has continued his study of art at Indiana University throughout his teaching career.
Tom's highly finished sculptures, created from various woods, reflect abstract and realistic shapes and forms indicative of the human being and nature. His family, the most important part of his life, remains a central inspiration for his art work.
His wife, three children, their spouses and grandchildren fill his world daily. The magnificent tree, rising to the heavens and representing the splendor and wonder of the world, remains a source of Tom's revelation. It's strength and grandness represents the same qualities within the human race. The tree's quietness and grace embodies all God's creation. Tom's art woven with appreciation and love for his family and trees characterize his commitment to both.
Tom has received purchase and art merit awards and his work has been placed in both private and public collections throughout the United States. He has exhibited in numerous galleries and shows including the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the prestigious Hoosier Salon. He has also exhibited his work in galleries in Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Florida.
Upon the completion of his family's portrait sculpture, the process and beauty of Tom's work has been captured by his brother-in-law, Chris A. Parker, in a most stunning way:
The Artist and the Divine Circle
He stares at it...there is something there.
He reaches out, closes his eyes and touches it.
Smiling...he quietly laughs...for no reason,
He just likes it!
What once lived tall in God's forest,
Has now been reduced to rubble...
But he knows better...
He will bring it back to life.
Again, he closes his eyes and feels it,
One idea...then two...then one hundred and more...
Flow through his veins...
And then he begins.
His tools become extensions of his hands,
The hands are guided by the heart.
The heart is instructed by the soul.
And of course...the soul is delivered by God.
Slowly, surely, what death has touched...
Begins to breathe again.
The soul, the heart, the hands and the tools
Are doing their work...their patient hard work.
Hours become days...days become weeks...
Weeks become months.
Every stroke...every exercise
Comes from the love of life.
As it comes to exist...he occasionally stops.
He smiles and quietly laughs.
For no reason...
He just likes it!
Now the circle has been completed.
Life into death and death back to life.
A creation unlike any other.
The celebration of a family.