Public Sculpture Park
Artist Biography and Statement Tom Grubb was born in Lexington, North Carolina, and has lived
in Eastover, NC, with his wife Elaine since 1989. He has been a professional artist installing monumental site-specific sculptures in the United States and abroad since 1980. He was the Executive Director of the Fayetteville Museum of Art from 1990 through 2010 and prior to that he was the interim director and artist-in-residence at the Museum. From 1984 to 1988 he worked as a visiting artist at Robeson Community College and at Fayetteville Technical Community College through the North Carolina Visiting Artist program. Tom attended graduate school from 1980 through 1983 at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He funded his studies in graduate school by working on ships in the North Atlantic Ocean as a crewman and eventually as Captain. His work experience also includes teaching math in the public school system in Elizabeth City, NC, from 1974 to 1978. He taught math and art in Florence, South Carolina from 1970-1971. Tom was drafted into the Army in 1971 and spent two years at Fort Bliss, Texas, as an instructor in missile technology. His education includes Bachelor of Science degrees in political science and history from Appalachian State University, 1970, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University in 1983. Tom Grubb was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts project grant for his sculpture Star Gate 2003 in 2002. He was chosen to be in the ambassador program People to People to represent artists from the United States on a trip to Russia in 1991. He was also awarded a Southern Arts Federation/NEA regional fellowship for sculpture in 1989 and received an Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County emerging artist grant in 1988. His sculpture, Star Voyager, was selected to be sited at the main entrance to the World Expo, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1988. The Arts Council of North Carolina chose Tom to receive the North Carolina Visual Artist Fellowship for his work in the arts in 1987. Tom Grubb’s ephemeral site-specific sculptures are fabricated from bamboo and rope and are aligned with objects off earth (i.e. the moon, sun, stars, constellations, etc.) and the viewer over a period of time can see the bamboo age and turn gold in color and eventually brown. The primary colors of the rope optically mix in the wind and the spectator can see secondary colors of pink, purple, orange, etc. Throughout history bamboo has represented man, bending in the wind and always springing back after adversity. With the ephemeral site-specific sculptures, he uses primitive materials to explore sophisticated space. To create sculptures such as Morning Star, Tom Grubb combines elements found in physics, astronomy, navigation and sacred geometry. He believes that the arts and sciences are closely connected to the health of the human spirit. Grubb creates these works of art that are part ancient, part futuristic and part spiritual to inspire the viewer to consider the unlimited possibilities of exploring earth and the universe and protecting our natural resources. |
2013 - Sculptor Tom Grubb of Eastover installed a 70-foot piece titled “Morning Star” in the park
Thanks goes out to all the volunteers who gave their time to help make this sculpture a reality.
New Bern Sculpture Park
Broad Street and Middle Street New Bern, NC 28560 |
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