Tom Brydelsky was born in 1957. He studied painting at the Art Student's League and holds a BA from Empire State College in New York. He has extensive teaching experience and was the Studio Art Lab Coordinator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York for many years. He has taught workshops to adults and children at Bank Street College of Education, the Queens Museum of Art, NY and in conjunction with his solo exhibitions in Fayetteville, AK and Asheville. NC.
His mixed-media work has appeared in galleries, art fairs and non-profit spaces throughout the U.S. and Europe. His recent work is an investigation into the nature of perception, memory, and the living environment.
Artists Statement
"My encaustic landscape paintings are an investigation into the emotional responses generated by memory and the natural environment.
The individual's sense of place and the memories generated by specific spaces are reoccurring themes. Composition, atmosphere and natural growth all contribute to these encounters.
The floral works reflect my long-term fascination with the Orient. Using color and texture my intention is to create a sense of harmony between the elements in an undefined space.
Initially, using a series of photographs I have taken, I manipulate a picture digitally, incorporating various textures and colors to re-capture the feeling that a particular environment or object evoked. The resulting image is printed using archival inks and paper, mounted onto a wood panel and becomes the base for an encaustic painting. The translucent quality of encaustic directly applied to the surface augments whatever atmospheric range of surface textures, and by its very nature, speaks of the fragility of life and memory."
~Tom Brydelsky
