captain tom

I'm pretty sure Tom Stanley arrived at Winthrop University around the same time I did.  I may be off by a year or so, but when I landed as a freshman in Fall 1990, I feel like Tom was pretty new to the scene.  To a new college student in the 90s, professors were almost deity.  We regarded our professors with such respect and awe in those days.  They certainly carried themselves with dignity and I always remember passing Tom in the hallway of the art building and he would be wearing a blazer and nice pants looking like a real professor.  

Tom was the gallery guy, probably officially the Gallery Director or Curator or something, but we just referred to him as the gallery guy.  He was responsible for bringing all sorts of great exhibits and artists to the Winthrop University Galleries during my four years of undergrad.  Tom didn't talk a lot, but he seemed very friendly.  He often seemed expressionless until spoken to at which point he'd give you the warmest smile and then he'd say something funny.  It was like he was alone in his head until you summoned him.  I liked him immediately and always looked for an opportunity to interact with him but I never got to have him as a professor.  

Tom's office was located on the busy first floor hallway and for three years I had to walk past it when I arrived and departed the art building.  Some nights you'd hear jazz coming from the open door and you'd get to glance in respectfully as you passed.  He had one of those old desktop Apple computers with the transparent casing.  He always seemed to be working on a painting if he wasn't behind that computer.  During my last year I mostly remember him expanding his office into the hallway at night and even hanging some of his works in progress on the wall beside the stairwell.  (I am now old and I may be mis-remembering the timing of this move into the hallway.  It is possible that this expansion into the hallway and the Apple computer may have been during my return to Winthrop for grad school around the year 2000.)  He was an exceptional example of a professor as a working artist.

On a day trip to Asheville in the early 1990s I saw some of Tom's work in a cool little contemporary art gallery downtown.  I remember how cool it was to see his work out in the wild.  

While I never got to be in one of Tom's classes, I did get to hear him speak a good bit.  He was a guest speaker for our Art Education class a few times and as the gallery guy, we usually got a short blip from him at a reception or an artist talk.  He was the coolest, you could just tell.

In the spring of 1999 I ventured back to Winthrop for grad school and Tom was still the gallery guy.  By then he was a pillar of Winthrop and his influence was evident everywhere.  Almost immediately I accidentally dove into the world of public sculpture which was a new thing on campus and Tom was instrumental in pushing that initiative forward.  Tom either got or gave permission for me to do all sorts of exhibits on campus.  One of those is still there, 5 really tall steel chairs installed permanently on the front campus beside the president's house.  So if you're familiar with that one, Tom did that for me.  

I still didn't get to have Tom as a teacher in grad school but when it was time for me to choose my MFA committee, I made sure he was on it.  It was during one of these critiques that Tom spoke to me after the official critique and told me there was something exciting about my work and that he saw it was "honest" and "genuine".  This was such a boost at the time as I was struggling to find my way and still today these are words I conjure as I begin a new work.  

Sometime around my final year of MFA, Tom took over as chair of the art department.  I was lucky to be teaching freshman studio classes and for the next 8 years Tom always made sure there was a class or two for me to teach each semester.  He even let me teach a grad level class.

And then...

When I found out there was a full time job at Lander, Tom put in the best word for me and helped get me the job.  You can see why I would still have such profound respect and love for a guy like that.

In the years since, Tom retired from the academic world and he and his wife Kathe have jumped into a full life after retirement.  They've traveled extensively, visited family and even relocated to Durham, NC where Tom has set up a new studio and has started producing a new body of work.

Kathe and Tom Stanley

In the summer of 2021, Tom was packing up years of paintings in preparation for his relocation and he contacted Lander about the possibility of donating some of his artwork.  My then department chair and colleague, Sandy Singletary, also knew Tom from Winthrop where she worked closely with him as a graduate assistant.  We were thrilled to be offered some of Tom's work and we enthusiastically accepted.  

I borrowed my brother's covered trailer on a humid June day and drove to Tom and Kathe's house in Rock Hill.  Tom and I loaded up 12 paintings that made up 3 different series of work.  

Tom just after he bumped his head pretty hard on the trailer entrance.

Tom and me after we BOTH bumped our heads pretty hard on the trailer entrance.  

I got to catch up with Tom and Kathe for a few minutes before driving back to Laurens and temporarily storing the paintings in my basement.  I started the process of letting people at Lander know we had basically just won the art lottery.  We started plotting and planning how we would get these paintings displayed in prominent locations around campus.

A few months later Tom was being featured at The George Gallery in Charleston, SC and I was able to time one of my gallery visits with his opening reception.

Tom and me at his reception at The George Gallery, November 2021

The wheels of academia move slowly but after about a year and an office renovation for me, Tom's paintings started to find permanent locations around campus with much help from jon holloway, our very own gallery guy.  These were the first to go up in the Jackson Library entrance.

Blue Rondo a la Turk #1-4.  All 36"x45.5" acrylic on wood panel

This series went up in an awesome spot in the stairwell just across from the Lander Art Gallery.

Kathe's Waltz, Pick Up Sticks, Strange Meadowlark and Three To Get Ready.  All 48"x78" acrylic on canvas stretched over wood panel.

Both of these series were created during 2009 and were inspired by the album Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

And finally, these guys went up in the hallway just down from my office, a hallway we had repainted and had the light fixtures updated to enhance the space for the work.

These last ones are so stark and symbolic and I love them.  I'm so glad they ended up so close to me at Lander.  

As of the typing of this post, we are preparing to honor Tom at his solo exhibition reception in the Lander Art Gallery.  Thursday, January 19 is the reception and as it happens, it's also Tom's birthday.  I am thrilled that we can honor Tom and thank him for his generosity in this way.

I am so grateful to know Tom and Kathe and it's crazy to think about how impactful Tom has been on my career as an artist and a teacher.  I hope that you have a person like Tom in your life.