Learning From Accidents

Sept. 18, 2015

Tom (T.J.) Krueger is uniformly informal when he creates his innovative pieces at his Greilickville studio. “I like to work in my three-piece suit,” he laughed. “T-shirt, shorts and sandals.” Krueger is a bundle of energy, always in motion, and his works display that restless spirit. They are varied and vigorous; some involve specially treated twigs, others include carefully crushed pine cones. While he works in a wide range of media, some of Krueger’s most impressive works are his clay pieces that are wheel thrown and altered by paddling or “spanking.”

His precise spray painting gives each pot a luminescent, eye-catching originality. He also produces a series of large, metal five-point stars that are popular among collectors.

Krueger is a rare artist who has been able to fashion a lifelong career from his art alone. For more than four decades he has supported himself solely from his art. His pieces are in corporate collections across the country, including Amoco Petroleum, Mitsubishi Corporation, McDonald’s, Chrysler Corporation, Mark Twain Bank Shares, Graebel Moving and Storage, Fort Howard Corporation and in numerous private collections.

In northern Michigan, Krueger’s works can often be seen at art fairs during the summer months.

“Art fairs are my direct marketing tool to find new clients for my sculptural works,” said the 69-year-old artist.

When not working an art fair, Krueger keeps busy with commissions, workshops and personalized teaching in his studio.

When not creating art, Krueger practices yoga in a loft over his studio. In the winter he’s an avid cross-country skier; for more than 40 years he’s been a certified Nordic ski instructor and for many years he competed in the nation’s signature ski race, the American Birkebeiner in his native state of Wisconsin.

“My pension plan is to work until the day I die,” he said. “That’s a concept I like.”

HOW I GOT STARTED

I came out of the U.S. Air Force in February 1969 and began taking classes at U-W Green Bay. I walked by the clay room and saw people playing with clay. It looked so cool, I said, ‘Sign me up! Is it legal to feel this good?’ While I was an art scholarship recipient at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County, Wisconsin, I lived for short while with Tom Yelvington, a well-known glass artist. Seeing the fluidity of the glass being formed and then morphed has been a constant influence in my art to this day. I’ve been an evolving artist ever since. For over 45 years I’ve been supporting myself with art.

THE STORY BEHIND MY ART, MY INSPIRATION

I work in all types of media. Mixed media best describes the approach to my creative compass. From 1985 through 1995, I worked with a paid assistant to produce a fine art direction by creating airbrushed landscapes on pottery with glaze slip pigments. In 1994, these explorations were adapted and are used in my current sculptural series. These are an outgrowth of building a 3,000-square-foot residential structure for my family. I loved solving the structural problems, from excavating and building structures to form concrete, to erecting safe scaffolding for work to proceed more than 30 feet high. This was sculpture — only in the form of a house!

But I learn from my accidents. Clay is natural and I’m enamored with it. It’s limitless.

Now I’m airbrushing the illusion of light on my pottery. Custom mixing of acrylic paint from a paste to a fluid airbrushing consistency, and the addition of gold acrylic paint in recent years, is the trick to my painted skies and landscapes.

WORK I’M MOST PROUD OF

My first major commission for a piece, “Beyond Clay.” It was a large wall piece that was bought by a foundation. They gave me money for three plywood pieces: one for their lobby, one for their lunchroom and one for their mezzanine. They were roughly 10 by 7 feet. The piece is still there.

YOU WON’T BELIEVE

I took six semesters of ballet with a Russian instructor in college. I like the physical discipline it involves. I do a lot of crosscountry skiing and that’s like ballet on skis.

MY FAVORITE ARTIST

I really like Louis Nevelson’s sculptures and the ceramics of Don Reitz. Locally, in all media we have a high number of artists including painters, jewelers, ceramic artists, people doing creative things in the discovery process.

ADVICE FOR ASPIRING YOUNG ARTISTS

Follow your passion, then add craftsmanship and integrity. My discovery zone is very broadly cast and yours should be too.

MY WORK CAN BE SEEN/PURCHASED

At Twisted Fish Gallery in Elk Rapids, Gallery 50 in Traverse City, Urban Diversions in Traverse City and by appointment by calling (920) 655-1721.