Opening Reception, March 15, 2018  4:30 PM – 7:30 PM

The Yellow Springs Senior Center is pleased to present Tom Verdon, A Tiny Retrospective: My 20 Years of Painting, to be exhibited in the Fireplace Room Art Gallery beginning March 15 and running through April 30, 2019. The exhibit will feature, a collection of oil paintings created by Tom over the last 2 decades.

Tom plans to be on hand to answer questions about his work, and Art Committee members will also be present. Please join us for an enjoyable evening in celebration and support of this local senior artist.

The mission of the Yellow Springs Senior Center Art Committee is to promote the work of local artists who are 55 years or greater. If you are interested in exhibiting your fine art or craft in 2019, please contact Valerie French at vfrench@seniorcitizenscenter.org or call the YSSC at (937) 767-5751 x 106. Yellow Springs Senior Center 227 Xenia Av. Yellow Springs, OH 45387

View event at:  https://www.facebook.com/events/2349031595327901/

Tom Verdon A tiny Retrospective: My 20 years of painting

The Start:

I started young, maybe at age 3 years or so.  Around age 7 my family moved from the city to the countryside in Michigan, where I quickly became the class artist in the school I attended. The school was built on the largess of Mr. W.K.Kellog, the cereal king and quite small, housing grades 1-12 with the average class size about 30 students.

I was able to keep this title, due to A:  An undetected case of A.D.D and B: Most of my class mates were farm kids who were expected to be home and to work right off the bus.

A Pause:

When we moved again to the city, I finished my senior year in a Catholic High School (art…? Don’t ask).

I spent the following year and a half in art school in Detroit and Kalamazoo, mostly trying not to flunk out. I solved my school problems by enlisting in the Air Force in 1950 which sadly ended my art training and work entirely.

And back to it:

In 1998, I began closing my working career and decided to become a “real” artist once again.  I studied painting with the terrific portrait artist Abner Cope and received my BFA from Wright State.  I continued to work as a studio artist feeling for the first time, that I was fulfilling my life’s purpose.

Another Unexpected Pause:

In 2017, I sustained 3 falls that included head injuries and was not able to keep up with the studio work. While I recovered, I had to give up my studio and put my paintings into storage.  Now I am back, recovered and eager to pick up the paint brush again. My current great hope is to locate a small, viable painting studio in town.

What you see in this show is a sample of 20 years of painting, some pieces from my personal and friends’ collections and some out of storage.