Biography

Tom Tedrowe is a studio furniture maker who has been working primarily with wood for more than 35 years. After living and maintaining his studio in Chicago for over 20 years, Tom and his wife Martha moved to Indiana in 2002. He built a 2,500 square foot studio and shop on his rural property and now walks to work from his home. Tom's work has been published in several books and design related periodicals and he continues to show his work nationally.

Tom has been recognized with several grants, most recently in 2009 from the Indiana Art Commission. Also in 2009, Tom was one of 20 professional Indiana artists invited to exhibit his work in the "Making it in the Midwest" exhibition at the Indiana State Museum. In 2011 he was asked to participate in a similar exhibition at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. Tom has been recognized with several "best of show" awards for his furniture. Tom has taught at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and Furniture Design at Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. He was the “Artist in Residence” at the State University of New York in Purchase, NY for Spring semester, 2007.

Tom traces his inspiration for furniture design to the time in the 1970s when he saw a sculptural furniture show at the Denver Museum of Art. He decided to combine his interests in sculpture and functional art and become a furniture designer/maker. This desire led him to a BFA in Sculpture from Indiana University's Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and an MFA in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

In his career Tom has accepted commissions to design and build all manner of furniture, including bedroom suites, buffets, tables, chairs, and decorative boxes and vessels. Tom has recently returned to his sculptural roots and is including sculptural objects in his repertoire.          

His work, known for its design meticulous craftsmanshisp and use of exotic woods, is influenced by world art and architecture.

With the help of an Indiana Arts Commission grant in 2009, Tom has begun incorporating welded steel in both his sculptural and functional pieces.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I employ multiple motives in the conception and execution of my work. I consciously introduce humor, metaphore and irony to express my ideas. I interpret architectural motifs in wood and play with proportion, geometric pattern and contrasting materials.

My goal is to further understand past and present design and stylistic movements from ancient ages to modern times along with their respective methods of construction, and to combine them with my own ideas to produce fine contemporary furniture and sculpture.

Through this development I am able produce furniture with a well-founded personal design and fine structural integrity.

My work is an expression of myself and I define my style as "evolving" as I continue to explore the boundaries that seem to separate sculpture from furniture.