We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tom Dowling a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tom, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I think that finding one’s voice is the most difficult task. Learning the processes and craft of making art is part of the joy. Certain practices can be learned easily and quickly, others can take a lifetime. Being fully engaged and enjoying the process is ongoing and at least for me is endless. I will be doing this until the end of my time here. Merging craft with my personal vision and content has been my pleasure for nearly 60 years now. The true learning is in discovering yourself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Early in my life I discovered that I like to make things, make images, and tell stories. It was an easy leap to choose to be a visual artist but a hard stretch to make a living at that art. The nature of Fine Art is that it often takes a long time to develop and gather a following. There is no guarantee that one can make a living from a personal creative endeavor. But the real payoff for an artist is that they get to make their art their entire life, and if they have that kind of commitment, they often make great contributitions to the culture. As an artist I am known for a cetain aesthetic, a certain style. People who connect to that style are my collectors. I don’t think of them as clients, more like fellow passengers on a specific journey.

I believe I provide an experience for the beholder. The language I use requires the viewer to be present. They and the artwork need to be in proximity to each other. One can’t simply see a photo of the painting or sculpture to connect, the experience is physical, actual. I do think often about my audience. I want to communicate to them. That to me is more important than the sale of the object. My work is collected, but I would say most people familiar with my work would have seen it in museums or art institutions.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Certainly monetary support is important. Pay for that artwork, pay for performance and concert opportunities. Artists need support. The more they get paid for their creative work the less they have to wait tables or paint houses. Just because someone has a “gift” for creativity doesn’t mean they have to give it away. Support institutions that support creatives such as PBS, NPR, Art and Culture Museums. These are important venues for artists to connect and to communicate with their audiences.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Communication. I get to have a dialogue with people who are concerned with the same aesthetic and philosophical issues that interest me. I get to have a dialogue with creatives and thinkiers of the past who have covered some of the same issues that I think about. My art practice puts me in contact with a variety of people at all stations in life, the student to the expert, the contemporary artist to the philosopher from eons ago.To do this my practice encourages me to do research. I find that I’m constantly engaged in reading and searching out historical images. I look to contemporary sources to find out who out there is doing similar work or has done so in the past.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tomdowling.com
• Instagram: tomjdowling_artist
• Facebook: tomdowling,artist

Image Credits

Tom Dowling in Studio
Photo credit Laura Peterson

All other photos
Tom Dowling Studio