Tom Robinson: Art, Life and the Human Connection

By Charles A. Blim Jr.

If you have ever driven to Fallon, Nevada from Fernley you may have encountered a rather vast boneyard of objects from the past that are owned and managed by Tom Robinson. A charismatic fellow with a Santa Claus like beard, Tom likes to prod the fellow human and make them laugh with his engaging personality. As I have got to know him first as the owner of Tom's Trading Post on the Reno Highway, Tom Robinson has fed me with tidbits of his artistic desires. Initially, I got to see his amazing wood blocks, which he carves from discarded chunks of wood that he has gathered upon his trails of picking to his mixed-media objet d'arts where he integrates found objects that provide for powerful memories from long ago. Although I knew little about his history before this article, I have always felt like I have known him my whole life from the studying of his art because for me, art is about the human connection. In art, lies the rare possibility to further understand our history and purpose through the creative passion of others. Here is a glimpse into the life of this important Nevada artist. cont.below

On July 31, 1932, Tom Robinson was born in the city of Sparta, Christian County, Missouri. In the sixth grade, his family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he ultimately received his high school diploma. As a youth, his first art experiences were with his aunts, who liked to china paint and were primarily ceramists. He remembers well the small sculptures he made from clay and cornstalks, and the tractors he created from wooden spools. Drawing was another favorite art activity as a youth. It was not until he was an adult at Drury College after serving in the Navy during Korea that he would take his first art class. He completed his undergraduate degree in Social Studies from Colorado State University, Greeley, where he majored in history and political science and minors in art, English and Spanish. His diverse background in education naturally led him to become a teacher. In the late 1950's, he accepted a position as a seventh grade teacher in Brawley, California, where he taught all subjects including wood shop. His teaching would take him all over Northern California and Western Nevada even landing him a position at the important Stewart Indian School of Carson City in the early 1970's. While living in the Sacramento area, he took a few courses at CSU Sacramento to study film making, as well as other art disciplines for a couple semesters. At this time, he met and befriended important artists Ralph Goings and Dick Ketelle. The sale of a sculpture entitled All Wrapped up in Mass Democracy in an auction held by Public Broadcasting in Sacramento to a prominent local doctor brought him some early attention as an artist. As he kept working as a teacher, he was always thinking about art and his desires to keep creating even during difficult periods with his family and the passing of his first wife from cancer. The basic struggles of life and doing everything he could to take care of his four boys pushed the passion for life to a new level, especially when he began living with his future wife Jo, a lifetime artist and dedicated parent of also four boys, who had lost her husband at a very young age. They shared so much in art and life.

Tom's art is best described as never standing still in his approach. Around 1960, he began to integrate found objects into much of his design, as well as use these objects to facilitate the creation of his art. These found objects or relics from the past remain an important input in his work today. In recent years this approach of utilizing found objects was celebrated in a solo exhibition at Western Nevada College of brushes that he collected and presented in a very avant-garde Pop Art manner for the viewing audience. In 2010, Tom was given another solo exhibition at Western Nevada College entitled Jeep and Bobcat Paintings by Tom Robinson, where he ran over cans full of paint on canvases with his Jeep. Like important artists before him such as Jackson Pollock, he proved painting does not always require the use of a paintbrush. One of his important bodies of work over the years was the creating of his timeless wood block prints. To create these prints, he has carved an image in reverse on found wood boards to then make prints on paper and textiles by hand in the manner of the WPA artists of the 1930's and the Modernists of the 1950's. Although every art piece he has created may have a separate meaning for him, there is one universal message that he hopes the public will sense and that is the basic fact he has always enjoyed the experience of being an artist. end