Resume – Artist Statement
American
1949
Born and Lives inDallas,TX
Works at Mountain Springs Sculpture Studio,Mountain Springs,TX
Education
1950
SouthernMethodistUniversity, B.B.A. in Accounting and a Minor in Sculpture
1974
SouthernMethodistUniversity, J.D.
Awards
2012
2012 Award for Excellence in Creative Arts by The Dallas Historical Society
2011
A Hometown Hero, Fox 4 News Dallas TX for “turning the fight against breast cancer into a work of art”
YouTube: George Tobolowsky
2012
2010
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2012
ChautauquaSculptureGardenExhibition, Chautauqua Institution, NY, Juried
2012
Exhibition: BlueStarContemporaryArtCenterand theSan AntonioBotanical GardenCurated by James Surls
2012
Exhibition: The City ofMcKinney,Texasat City Hall
2011
Exhibition: WEST TEXASTRIANGLE: 5th Annual Triangle Show (a consortium of four art museums in West Texas)San Angelo, Abilene, AlbanyandOdessa,TX
2010
Exhibition: TheTylerMuseumofArt,Tyler,TX(September 2010 with Catalogue)
2010
“The Road ThroughTexas,” Colton & Farb Gallery,Houston,TX
2010
Exhibition: “Form & Substance”, TheGraceMuseum,Abilene,TX
(April 2010) (Catalogue:Essay by Jed Morse,Curator at theNasherSculptureCenter)
2009
Outdoor Sculpture Show: “InternationalBridge”, Town of Vail, CO. (June 2009/10)
Promoted by Vail with a show at the Masters Gallery Vail
2009
IrvingArtsCenterandSculptureGarden,Irving,TX
2008
“Poetry in Steel”, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (TheMAC),Dallas,TX (catalogue)
2007
“New YorkShow”, Jim Kempner Fine Art,New York,NY
2007
“The Business of Art”,BryanTower: Sponsored by Spire Realty,Dallas,TX
2007
“Poetry in Steel”, The Art Museum of SoutheastTexas,Beaumont,TX(catalogue)
2007
TheDallasCenterfor Contemporary Art,Dallas,TX: 3 D on Swiss
2006
“My First Rodeo”,GeraldPetersGallery,Dallas,TX
2006
Outdoor Sculpture Show, SouthernMethodistUniversity, MeadowsSchoolofArts,Dallas
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2012
Art in the Garden 2012,San AntonioBotanical Garden, Juried
2012
Lakefront Sculpture Exhibition, The City ofChicago, IL, Juried
2011
Exhibition: The Sculpture Network ofTexas,UniversityofTexasatTyler, Juried
2011
Art in the Garden: Texas Uprising, Texas Sculptors Group,San AntonioBotanical Garden, Juried
2011
Lake Oswego: Gallery Without Walls Exhibition, Art Council ofLake Oswego,Oregon, Juried
2010
30thAbilene Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition,Abilene,TX, Juried
2010
HendersonArt Project, Juried Sculpture Exhibition,Dallas,TX
2009
Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture, Meadows Museum SMU,Dallas, Juried
2009
Texas Sculpture Association State-Wide Juried Art Exhibition,Dallas,TX
2009
Sculpture forNew Orleans,New Orleans,LA, Curated:TulaneUniversity,Diamond Street and Hotel Le Cirque
2008
Texas Sculpture Association’s 25th Anniversary Exhibition,Dallas,TX, Juried
2008
The Chair Project,AustinMuseumofArt,Austin,TX
2007
MartinMuseumof Art,BaylorUniversity,Waco,TX
Group Show: James Surls, Jeff Brosk and George Tobolowsky
2006
Critic’s Choice Exhibition, The Dallas Center for Contemporary Art,Dallas,TX
2006
WacoNational Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition: Invitational Artists, Juried
2006
KempCenterfor the Arts,Wichita Falls,TX, Juried
2005
NewTexasTalent, Craighead-Green Gallery,Dallas,TX, Juried
SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
The City ofAbilene,TX, Public Art Collection
TheEllenNoelArt Museum,Odessa,TX
The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX
DallasContemporaryMuseum,Dallas,TX
TheGraceMuseum,Abilene,TX
TheTylerMuseumofArt,Tyler,TX
TheArt MuseumofSoutheast Texas,Beaumont,TX
SouthernMethodistUniversityArt Collection,Dallas,TX
TexasSculptureGarden,HallOffice Park,Frisco,TX
IrvingArtsCenterandSculptureGarden,Irving,TX
The Town ofVail, CO, Public Art Collection
Craig and Ambassador Kathryn Hall,Dallas,TX
FedEx Kinko’s,Dallas,TX
Dean Carol Brandt,MeadowsSchoolof Arts,Dallas,TX
Ergoline Holdings,Windhagen,Germany
Commercial Metals Company,Irving,TX
The Legacy Senior Communities,Plano,TX
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / ARTICLES:
HomeTown Hero,George Tobolowsky, Fox 4 News, Clarice Tinsley,Dallas,TX, Oct 31, 2011
Steel Inspiration: George Tobolowsky, Modern Steel Construction, Aug. 26, 2011
Texas Sculptor Creates Art From Scrap,Midland’s Pulse, June, 2011
D Magazine: How Sculptor George Tobolowsky Got The Calling, May, 2011
TexasArtist George Tobolowsky at theTylerMuseumof Art, Tyler Daily, Aug. 23, 2010
TMA to present George Tobolowsky’s Found Object Assemblages,Tyler Morning Teleg., Aug 21, 2010
‘George Tobolowsky: Sculpturing’ Documentary Film byDallasFilmmaker Quin Mathews, April 2010
‘Form & Substance:The Art of George Tobolowsky’,Exhibition Catalogue,April 30,2010,The Grace
Museum,Essay by Jed Mores,Curator of theNasherSculptureCenter,Dallas
‘Poetry in Steel’ told in Vail,Vail Daily,May 20,2009
DMagazine.com, “A Preview of theDallasArt Fair”, February 3, 2009
Modern Sculptures Transform Tulane Quad, New Wave,TulaneUniversity, November 5, 2008
Past Exhibition & Artists 2008,McKinney AvenueContemporary,August 8, 2008
“George Tobolowsky: Poetry in Steel”,BeaumontConvention & Visitors Bureau, April 2, 2007
“Poetry in Steel”, Exhibition Catalogue, April 28, 2007,Essays by James Surls and Dr. Edmund (Ted) P. Pillsbury
Art Museum of SoutheastTexas: 500Main: “George Tobolowsky: Poetry in Steel,” Spring2007
SELECTED CURRENT/PAST BOARDS:
TexasSculpture Association, Co-Founder,Dallas,TX
Public Art Committee, Panelist,Dallas,TX
MeadowsSchoolof Arts Executive Committee (SMU)
MeadowsMuseumAdvisor Council (SMU)
DallasMuseumof Art,Dallas,TX
DallasContemporary,Dallas,TX
Library of Congress,Washington,DCPhillips Society
Young Presidents Organization,Dallas,TX
DallasandTexasBar Associations
TexasMap Society, Past President
Communities Foundation, Advisory Board
M.B. and Edna Zale Foundation, Treasurer
Abe Zale Foundation, President
BlueStarContemporaryArt Museum,San Antonio,TX
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS/ACTIVITIES:
2012
Dallas Historical Society’s 2012 Award Excellence in Creative Arts
2011
Short-listed, Love Field Airport-Terminal,Dallas,TX
2008
Demonstrating artist for the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts and Visual Arts.Dallas,TX
2008
Committee Member, planning Texas Sculpture Association’s 25th Anniversary Symposium.
Prior 2000 Co-Founder of theTexasSculpture Association; Co-Founder Hiram Butler Gallery,Houston,TX
Installer of Sculptures for James Surls and Louise Nevelson
Artist Statement
GEORGE TOBOLOWSKY
American
1949 Born Dallas, TX
Lives in Dallas, TX and works in Mountain Springs
Sculpture Studio, Mountain Springs, TX
EDUCATION
1970 Southern Methodist University, B.B.A. in Accounting and a Minor in Sculpturing
1974 Southern Methodist University, J.D.
AWARDS
2012 2012 Award for Excellence in Creative Arts by The Dallas Historical Society
2011 A Hometown Hero, Fox 4 News Dallas TX for “turning the fight against breast cancer into
a work of art”
YouTube: George Tobolowsky
2012 YouTube:Found Object Artist: Substance and Form, Lecture by Jed Morse,
Curator of the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas TX (57:37 minutes)
2010 YouTube: Metal Sculpture Artist by Quin Mathews Films, Dallas TX (10:04 minutes)
As native of Dallas, Texas, I earned my business degree and law degree from
Southern Methodist University in the early ‘70s. While at SMU, I also minored
in Sculpture studying under Texas artist James Surls, who became my mentor
and friend. But upon graduation, I entered the business world, and spent the
next several decades garnering a successful business and legal career. I was not
producing art myself until about seven years ago when I felt an inspiration and
with the encouragement of my mentor Surls; I embarked on my own artistic path.
My output over the past eight years has been prodigious: over 350 sculptures,
14 Solo Museum and Public Art Exhibitions and 20 Group Exhibitions throughout
the U.S. I make abstract metal sculptures from steel and stainless steel “found
objects”. These found objects however, are not of the everyday sort, but rather
bulky industrial metal castoffs that I scour scrap yards and fabrication plants to
find. I rarely alter theses metal pieces but instead work to fit the individual scraps
together – much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – into balanced compositions.
My sculptures are one part assemblage and one part recycling, which follows
closely with the philosophy of another early artistic influence, Louise Nevelson.
My titles are typically added upon completion and offer a suggestion for
interpretation but mindfully allow room for various readings within each piece.
My works represent a logical extension of the welded steel sculpture tradition
that can be traced from Julio Gonzalez to David Smith. I have several works
in Museums, Universities and Public and Private Collections and have had
Exhibitions in Vail, CO., Portland OR., Chicago IL, New York City, Chautauqua
NY, New Orleans LA and throughout Texas and many other locations. I have just
received the “Award for Excellence as the Creative Artist of the Year 2012” by
The Dallas Historical Society. For more information, please visit my website at
www.georgetobolowsky.com which is linked to YouTube for some videos on my
work.
