Tom Slack Art Show at Joeyg’s

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NOTE: Tom’s show has been extended to March 27!

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: January 27, 2010

On The Wall @ Joeyg’s Restaurant & Nightclub
218 E. Main Street, Madison, IN
812-273-8862

Patty Cooper Wells, art wall curator

Indianapolis Artist Tom Slack to Exhibit Paintings of Madison

Acclaimed Indiana artist Tom Slack will be presenting a series of oil paintings that portray his impression of the people and places of Madison in a special exhibit at Joeyg’s Restaurant & Nightclub February 9th through March 27th. There will be an opening reception for the exhibit on Saturday, February 13th from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.

The Indianapolis based artist has been visiting Madison for many years and it never fails to inspire him. “Madison is a great town with its history and interesting people,” says Slack. Viewers will recognize scenes of Main Street, the Ohio River and the Madison/Milton Bridge, as well as the Broadway Fountain. There are also portraits and candid scenes of some of Madison’s familiar faces, such as local musician Roy Gentry.

Tom Slack has exhibited his award-winning paintings all across the Midwest, as well as presenting instructional lectures and workshops on painting portraits and landscapes. He is represented by art galleries in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.

On his approach to painting, the artist explains: “Whenever we look at anything we are drawn to what glows versus what is flat. The shiny reflections in wet roads, sunlight through flower petals, the highlighted colors that are more easily seen, and the halo on an edge of a silhouette are all examples of “glow.” Rather than

concentrate on the actual objects, I create a feeling or atmosphere and then work the representation of the items in afterwards. I have attempted to portray this “glow” in my paintings.”

As a young man, Slack constantly sketched everything around him and dreamed of becoming an artist, only to be discouraged by his family from pursuing that dream. “They told me that I shouldn’t be a ‘starving artist’ – that I should pursue a career in a ‘respectable’ field where I could be guaranteed to earn a good living. So I reluctantly focused on a career in business,” says Slack.

He found success, if not happiness, in his business career as the years rolled by and he got married and raised a family – until the morning of March 1, 1995 when he had a life-changing experience. He got stuck in a snowdrift in the mountains of Utah. While trapped for hours in his car, trying to keep warm the best he could, he feared that he would not be discovered. “I was freezing, hungry and wet. I knew my wife would be wondering where I was. It was getting dark and I could hear the wind blowing and coyotes howling. I thought that I was going to die, and it made me so very sad, not because I was afraid to meet my maker, but because I had wasted my life and hadn’t done what I had really wanted to do,” says Slack.

As he sat in the dark, shivering with cold, he decided that if he could get out of there alive, he would immediately change his life and go after his dream of becoming an artist. In the light of the next morning, he could tell it was snowing. If he didn’t get out immediately, he might not be discovered for weeks. After extreme effort, he was able to exit the car. He walked down the steep ice-covered road slipping and falling along the way. Luckily, a person came by with a pickup truck and Tom flagged him down. He doesn’t really remember much from that point. Somehow he got home. Upon returning, he promptly resigned from his job.

For three years he worked part-time jobs as he went back to school. After hours upon hours of drawing and painting classes, studio work and studying, he graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Next, He loaded a truck with his belongings and put his car on a trailer. He, his wife and daughter headed across the country and ended up in Indianapolis. There he found a job and could spend time working on his art career. He has been doing just that ever since.

More of Tom Slack’s art work may be seen on his web site, www.tomslack.com

Paintings by Tom Slack will be on display at Joeyg’s Restaurant & Nightclub at 218 E. Main Street until March 10th. Joeyg’s opens at 4:00 PM Monday through Friday and at 11:00 AM on Saturdays and at noon on Sundays.

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February 24, 2010

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