July 12, 2004: Headlines: Art: Jewelery: Expressions Magazine: RPCV Thomas Tucker is a jewelry maker makes handcrafted silver jewelry from found objects from the coasts of California and Hawaii

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Library: Peace Corps: Art: Art: July 12, 2004: Headlines: Art: Jewelery: Expressions Magazine: RPCV Thomas Tucker is a jewelry maker makes handcrafted silver jewelry from found objects from the coasts of California and Hawaii

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-22-73.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.22.73) on Monday, July 12, 2004 - 7:21 pm: Edit Post

RPCV Thomas Tucker is a jewelry maker makes handcrafted silver jewelry from found objects from the coasts of California and Hawaii

RPCV Thomas Tucker is a jewelry maker makes handcrafted silver jewelry from found objects from the coasts of California and Hawaii

RPCV Thomas Tucker is a jewelry maker makes handcrafted silver jewelry from found objects from the coasts of California and Hawaii

Found Objects:
An Interview with Thomas Tucker


Thomas Tucker is a jewelry maker whose handcrafted silver jewelry showcases found objects from the coasts of California and Hawaii. Beach pebbles, sea glass, pottery shards, and shells along with pearls, stones, and scrap metals are bezel-set in sterling silver. His extraordinarily unique wearable art reflects his appreciation and reverence of nature and his personal artistic journey.

In this interview, Thomas shares his history, his discovery of art, and the evolution of his life and work.

H.G. Has art been a part of your life since childhood?

T.T. I was deeply drawn to the natural world as a child and collected rocks, leaves, and berries—and was fascinated with all things wild. I opened my senses in the woods and along the bayous of Louisiana. This was a time for open communion with nature in which shapes, textures, patterns, and colors penetrated deep into my consciousness. I became grounded in nature and found “raw materials” for dreams. I placed all of my finds on a table and repositioned them often and with reverence. This collection took on kind of a sacred quality and served as some kind of natural shrine. My father added to the magic by strategically planting objects—from pure white sand dollars to perfect arrowheads—without my knowledge for me to find. In fact, I didn’t know that these things had been planted until fairly recently, and I jokingly blame my father for my obsession with found objects. I also dabbled in lapidary as a child and mixed my creations in with the found objects.

H.G. Did your love of nature and your interest in lapidary stay with you?

T.T. No, soon athletic trophies started taking over the table. A competitive spirit emerged within me, and I drifted further away from being sensitive and creative until I had a motorcycle accident that left me with two broken arms. This humbling experience pushed me into a more introspective and philosophical place. I started reading and writing about my thoughts and, although creative writing and dreams appealed to me, I was stuck in the process of intellectualizing everything. My thinking was so linear and my personality was so predictable that I felt trapped—and a lot of my formal education reinforced the walls around me.

I studied physical geography in university, as I was interested in landforms and natural processes as well as the relationship between humans and the natural world from a cultural, psychological and spatial perspective. After graduating from Louisiana State University in 1992 with a bachelor of science in geography, I became a seasonal park ranger. I began interpreting the natural world though journaling—a mix of categorizing my observations and creative writing. I continued these journals as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. I developed an interest in village crafts—everything was handcrafted and made with the simplest of tools. I was just wandering through Africa and Asia observing and learning meditation and something happened—I thought that I was going crazy. My order of things could not be understood, and I grew tired of the way I was. The answer was to allow myself to be free—to allow myself to be mystified by what I saw. I started dreaming and fantasizing, and it was as if all of the things that I neglected rose to the surface and my creative well was overflowing. I started to be more sensitive and caring and loving.




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Story Source: Expressions Magazine

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Art; Jewelery

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By Allyson Makiej (72.70.119.195) on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 1:06 am: Edit Post

Tom is a wonderful sensitive creative artist. I love his work. From his friend, Allyson


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