Meet the Artist... Tom Chambers

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Tom Chambers' passion for art began while attending the University of Tampa on a football scholarship.  There, he studied Sculpture, Drawing and Painting.  His art was put on hold after he married, began a family and entered the business world of retail.  It was a corporate move from Orlando to Crystal River, Florida in 1993 that ignited his interest in creating unique wood sculptures from the surrounding branches.  His wife, Brenda, asked him to recreate a wall hanging from a small picture in a magazine.  Tom’s idea was to use the resources in his yard; the result, a 4 foot by 8 foot wooden sculpture, created from oak branches, still hangs in their Georgia mountain home today.

In May 2007, after 34 years in retail, Tom took an early retirement to pursue his love of art full-time.  He and Brenda moved from sunny Florida to the forests of north Georgia.  The landscape and terrain provide the ideal setting from which he collects branches to create his unique designs.

What makes Tom’s branch sculptures unique is their continuous flow, causing viewers to wonder where one branch ends and another begins.  The creation of each and every piece is an exciting challenge to the artist, due to the diversity of the branches available. He says, “Each piece sort of creates itself because you have to use what nature gives you. I could spend hours in the woods looking for just the right branch to complete a piece. Or I could stumble across it in a matter of minutes.”

Tom admits that when he starts a piece of sculpture, he never knows how large it will end up becoming. He started one piece to go on a tabletop and it ended up being a seven-foot tall free-standing sculpture.  “It all depends on where the branches lead me,” says Tom.

Tom is a member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Art Association, the Gilmer Arts and Heritage Association in Ellijay, Georgia, and belongs to the Southern Appalachian Artists Guild in Blue Ridge, Georgia.

Browse the gallery to see Tom's work.  Contact him at tchambers1000@yahoo.com