Tom Spleth on inviting artist Kelly O’Briant: “Kelly is one one most present people I know. I mean, when she is the room, she is there with all considerable intelligence and perceptions operating 100%. Consequently, something is always going on around about her. She never lets me down for that.”
Oklahoma native and Arts/Industry alumnus, Tom Spleth, earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from the College of Ceramics at Alfred University. As a self-employed artist living and working in North Carolina, Tom’s career has involved painting, printing, sculpture, and slip-casting ceramics. Through his work, he looks to express and explore his perception of paradox: the cycles of life and death, loss, anger, and despair that always accompany the seductive beauty seen in the surrounding world. Tom’s work has been exhibited at such venues as the Gregg Museum, North Carolina State University, NC; the McColl Center, NC; the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, NC; the Asheville Art Museum, NC; and the North Carolina Museum of Art; NC. His work belongs in numerous collections, including, the Cameron Museum, Wilmington, NC; Illinois State University, IN; Kohler Company, WI; and the Rhode Island School of Design, RI. Additionally, Tom has been awarded numerous public commissions through the North Carolina Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the North Carolina Art in State Buildings Program.
Invited Mentor
Tom Spleth
Little Switzerland, NC