Tom Buck takes inspiration from petroglyphs to create his Petro People.
Jill Gianino
The PebbleCreek Art Club has awarded the September Artist of the Month to Tom Buck. Tom and his wife Bev moved to PebbleCreek in 2012 from Lafayette, Colorado where Tom retired as a small business owner as a result of a career in corporate retail. Previous to Lafayette they lived and worked in San Jose, California. Both Tom and Bev are originally from Salinas, California.
In Colorado Tom and Bev enjoyed hiking in the mountains and have continued their hiking here exploring the desert trails. Additionally, Tom and Bev enjoy traveling and were able to spend five weeks in south east China this past spring. Most recently they had the pleasure of a month’s river cruise to Eastern Europe and southern France. Tom also enjoys the Life Long Learning presentations as well as the music and theatre productions in PebbleCreek.
Tom’s artistic area of expertise is woodworking and he has honed and developed his extraordinary talent over decades of experimenting and experience. Woodworking has always been a creative outlet as well as a practical skill for Tom. He is a self-taught craftsman who is constantly working and learning new techniques and skills by reading, learning, investigating and interacting with other woodworkers to acquire and enhance his abilities.
Tom initially worked on home improvement projects and also built items such as baby cribs and rocking horses for his two daughters. He was involved in the community, building sets for school plays and graduations as well as designing and building special gifts for family and friends such as custom built jewelry boxes. He has restored and refinished antique walnut and rosewood furniture. Tom describes himself as “somewhat of a perfectionist” when it comes to getting just the right finish on a piece of wood. Since moving to PebbleCreek, Tom has had the time to enjoy and pursue the more creative and artistic aspects of woodworking.
He calls his most current work Petro People inspired from ancient petroglyphs found in the Southwest. These 3D sculptures are a combination of exotic woods and stones forming an interpretive image of a petroglyph. Initially, a center stone is chosen and set into a piece of wood highlighting the stone’s color and shape. When the body is assembled, a contrasting piece of wood is chosen to shape the head. Then the base is made from a carefully selected stone. Tom does not have a preconceived idea of what the finished product will look like as each step leads him along the process to the next. The final phase is to accessorize each piece with eyes, earrings and/or a headpiece.
These Petro People are truly amazing. Please stop by the window display at the Art Center and clubhouses during the month of September to check out Tom’s beautiful woodworking creations. Our sincere congratulations to Tom on being chosen Artist of the Month for September.