We recently connected with Tom Corbin and have shared our conversation below.

Tom , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Rings and Columns

Known as a figurative artist for more than 30 years, most people might be surprised that I had a yearning to take on the abstract and nonobjective for quite some time.Those yearnings have been realized through my Rings and Columns Series. Making that investment and conceptual leap has been well received by both our representatives and collectors alike. In fact, I have expanded the Rings Series (circles and ovals) to include “Links” (squares and rectangles) and “XO” designs too. These new and expanded directions have energized me in the studio. I look forward to turning my focus to my figurative works, then to nonobjective and then cross over to paintings.

Rings
Digging thru old drawings, the first evidence of my interest in using the ring (and oval) as a design premise first appeared 10 years ago. A rudimentary ring configuration was displayed as a doodle, one of many on a yellow legal pad. Not gaining any traction at that point, the doodle was filed away and would not see the light of day for another 8 years.

My desire to take a break from the figure continued to build which prompted a revisiting of many sketches, doodles and pages torn from art mags. This was 2014.

With fresh eyes, my couple of ring doodles from years back intrigued me. I proceeded to produce scores of ring drawings which were then pinned to the walls of my studio.

I let those designs marinate for a week before I picked, what I thought, were the clear choices for eventual production.

The designs that caught my fancy were best described at the horizontal links. A jumble of circles and ovals, these elements were, in fact, linked together horizontally producing the effect of sculptural choreography.

I decided the scale of the new designs would balance themselves thus eliminating the requirements of a base. The texture of each element would be rough.

So I began the design process by producing 5 wax maquettes at a quarter scale of actual size. Individual elements were then tweaked, turning them this way and that way till a certain visual harmony was attained.

During this time, a potential production problem began to appear to me that could make fabricating the sculptures tedious and, as a result, potentially too expensive to produce.

My designs had the elements of each sculpture interlinked. This “linking” would require that each cast bronze circle or oval would have to be cut, linked with it’s neighbor and then rewelded. This, I knew, would be a production nightmare.

So the design train came to a screeching halt. Until I could figure at this conundrum, I decided to move on to a new project.

Weeks had passed and the linking problem persisted. At that point, I had decided not to proceed with the links. I began to deconstruct my maquettes when that “aha” moment hit me.

I had, for some reason, always assumed that the rings had to link. Perhaps, instead, could they be attached but not linked? Of course, they could! That attachment would be a simple weld.

I was elated. I was back in business. All the maquettes were unlinked and then reattached with “wax welds.”

I decided on 3 of the maquette designs to go into production. Casting patterns were produced and sent to the foundry. Two months later our first 3 prototypes were completed.

As an artist, you pretty much know if your new sculpture wise a design success the first instant you see it on display in your studio. What I mean from this is – in the end, did this sculpture accomplish what you had intended from the onset. In this case, the answer was an emphatic “yes”.

Columns
My fascination with vertical sculpture began when I toured an exhibition of primitive African sculpture at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum in the late 80’s. My ensuing contemporary adaptation of the iconic totems was realized in my sculptures, “Evolution” and “Woman’s Rites” completed in 19xx.

In 2014, I decided to revisit the prospect of producing some new totem/column designs. As with the rings, I made the decision that the designs would be nonobjective thus getting me out of my figurative comfort zone.

Though the style of sculpture might change my design process hasn’t wavered much over the years. Thumbnail sketches evolve into realized sketches on kraft paper, the kraft paper is pinned to my studio walls for evaluation and editing. From there maquettes are produced, again for evaluation and editing.

So what designs made the final cut? Actually, the common thread that ties the sculptures together is that the elements of each piece alternate. By alternating, I mean they go side to side. This, I feel, makes them unique. (Case in point, Brancusi and Beverly Pepper’s columns are all symmetrical.)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a bronze sculptor, furniture designer and painter whose Kansas City studio, offices and gallery are housed in a restored firehouse in Rosedale. While my early career was in sales after studying business and marketing in college, my passion has always been for art.

A colleague at an advertising firm was taking sculpture classes. They invited me to join them, which led to a renewed interest in the medium. I created a few pieces for my own personal use and began accepting commissions. A few years in, I was able to quit my “day job” and begin my career as a full-time sculptor. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have the support of my family and friends, not to mention a few introductions that have changed the course of my career, and my life. I’ve been sculpting now for over 35 years. This is an excerpt from our 2019 book, Tom Corbin Continued, that describes my current state of mind as an artist.

I Like to Think That My Best Work Is Still Ahead

“My fourth decade as an artist; honestly, can that be? Thirty-two years ago, I moved into my studio loft in Kansas City’s River Market with a box of sculpting tools and clay, and a head full of hopes and dreams.

“Against the odds, many of them have come true.

“So, what’s next? More hopes and dreams, of course. Thirty years ago, I considered myself solely a sculptor. And now, sculptor, painter, and furniture designer. But there are more mediums to consider in the potential works waiting for discovery.

“What would I like to explore yet as an artist? The answer is three-fold.

“First, there are themes I’d like to approach as abstract, nonobjective paintings and sculpture. My vision of those themes is in flux, still emerging, but which I know will distill through execution. Sometimes the art itself reveals the direction it should go. My art teaches me.

“Secondly, I want to push the evolution of my ring and column sculptures, in terms of size, formation, and color. I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface with them.

“Lastly, I would like to reinterpret some past ideas I had about the treatment of the figure. Melding painting with sculpture is something I find exciting. Bronze relief on a large scale has also piqued my interest. I’ve experimented in unusual surface treatments for painting the figure, but I need to investigate these more seriously.

“The real answer to what is next is far more than three-fold. Art seems to have a way of finding the artist. I like to think that my best work is still ahead, waiting for me to catch up to it. Just around the next inevitable curve in the path ahead.”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Sometimes, break the rules. In 1993, I was selected as one of the seven finalists to produce a series of monumental bronze panthers for the Charlotte Panthers Football Stadium. Each finalist was given size and mounting requirements that were to be adhered to. This, naturally, would have a significant impact on the artist’s design submissions.

Being a rule follower, my panther design did not stray from the requirements stated in the proposal request. Along with five other finalists, we gathered in Charlotte to present our designs to the selection committee. We were told that we would be contacted soon after with the committee’s decision.

As luck would have it, a Kansas City architect friend of mine was on the selection committee and was the one who initially got me involved in the search for a sculptor.

I got a call from him the week after the presentations. The news was not good. He reported that I had come in second out of the seven. Naturally, I was curious on what set the winning design apart from the rest of us. My friend said the winning artist disregarded the specifications and came up with a truly original design that was dynamic.

I was initially aghast that the committee selected a sculptor that gave “the rules” little consideration and did his own thing. Within a day or so, I realized that the committee did make the correct decision in selecting “the rule breaker”. Their design was truly the best, but it could not have been realized if the rules were followed.

From that experience, I learned that as an artist you have to take risks. And this requires one to break the rules from time to time. This “unlearned lesson” has served me well.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The obvious answer to this is that at the end of most days, I can look at a sculpture, painting or furniture design that is in progress and have the satisfaction that I made that with my own two hands. It’s literally a physical gratification that is immensely rewarding that most people don’t have the luxury or opportunity to experience. Of course, seeing the finished work in a gallery, museum or public installation is great, but the real reward is in the evolution of a piece day to day.

The relationships I have made over the years would be a close second. I am fortunate to be in an industry that is like no other. It’s fun, exciting, supportive and continually evolving. So many gallery and showroom owners representing my work have become close friends, as have many collectors.

Contact Info:

• Website: corbinbronze.com
• Instagram: @corbinbronze
• Facebook: @corbinbronze

Image Credits
Ron Berg and Corbin Bronze Studio