Michael Tom

Voyage, copper and brass sculpture by Michael Tom, 1985, East-West Center, Honolulu

Michael Tom (1946–1999) was an American sculptor who was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received a bachelor of fine art degree in painting and metalsmithing from Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, and pursued graduate studies at San Diego State University. He started his artistic career as a painter, but was then drawn to making art jewelry. Art jewelry led to metalsmithing, which in turn led to metal and mixed media sculpture.

In 1992, Tom received the Catharine E. B. Cox Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts. He is best known for his small sculptures of hammered copper. Death is a pervasive theme in his work (Clark, 1996), and Tom died of liver cancer in Honolulu on April 12, 1999.

The Hawaii State Art Museum and the East-West Center are among the public collections holding sculptures by Michael Tom.

References

• Clarke, Joan and Diane Dods, Artists/Hawaii, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1996, 110-115.
• East-West Center, East-West Treasures, Selected Works from the Permanent Collection, East-West Center, Honolulu, 2010, p. 8.
• Yoshihara, Lisa A., Collective Visions, 1967-1997, An Exhibition Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Art in Public Places Program, Presented at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, September 3-October 12, 1997, Honolulu, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 1997, p. 59.

Persondata
Name	Tom, Michael
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Date of birth	1946
Place of birth
Date of death	1999
Place of death