Tom Marino
Toledo, Ohio
Tom Marino artwork currently in stable representation at 20 North Gallery
For purchase inquiries, please contact 20 North Gallery:
419-241-2400 or info@20northgallery.com
Artist Biography
Tom Marino holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Michigan Technological University (Houghton), where he also pursued graduate work. He is a longtime member and former President of the Toledo Potters’ Guild, located at the Toledo Botanical Garden (Ohio), as well as an Independent member of Toledo Federation of Art Societies. Marino has worked in clay for over thirty years, combining his background in chemistry, personal studies and interest in science and contemporary art to inform his ceramic aesthetic.
Marino’s award-winning work is included in many permanent museum collections including the Canton Museum of Art (Ohio), the Crocker Museum of Art (Sacramento, California), the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA, Pomona, California), the Zanesville Museum of Art (Ohio), the Block Museum (Evanston, Illinois), the Midwest Museum of American Art (Elkhart, Indiana), Racine Art Museum (Racine, Wisconsin), as well as the permanent collection of Ceramics Monthly (Westerville, Ohio). Marino’s ceramic work has also been accepted into the collection of the Dalai Lama.
He has exhibited regularly in the Toledo Area Artists Exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio), Art on the Mall at The University of Toledo (Ohio) and the juried Crosby Festival of the Arts at Toledo Botanical Garden, in which he has participated annually since 1980. He exhibits nationally and internationally in venues such as Hawk Galleries (Columbus, Ohio), the Ohio Designer Craftsmen Best Of at the Ohio Craft Museum (Columbus, Ohio) and SOFA Chicago (Illinois). Among his many juried honors, Marino received Best of Show for his ceramic diptych, Crucible Series: Sole e Luna, in the 2022 TFAS 100+5: Juried Regional Exhibition at the Center for the Visual Arts on the Toledo Museum of Art campus (Toledo, Ohio). Recently, his Crucible Series and Reliquary Series were featured in 2021 at 20 North Gallery in the 3-person exhibit, The Alchemist’s Dream. In 2019, his work was selected for exhibition in the 47th International Glass Invitational Award Exhibition at Habatat Galleries (Royal Oak, Michigan). Additionally, in 2016, he enjoyed a solo exhibition at Zanesville Museum of Art and, in 2017, his work appeared at the 11th International Ceramics Competition (Mino, Japan), before being short-listed for a touring exhibition by that museum.
Artist Statement: Crucible Series
Transformation is the theme of my ceramics. Concepts about light, space and time are considered which relate to their literal and symbolic meanings. The Crucible Series explores the idea of transformation, whether personal, collective or scientific. The bowl-vessel form creates a place where dynamic change is fueled by events and aspirations that require a potent response when time decrees. The resulting process can forge a regeneration that leads to a new understanding or revelation.
The Crucible Series also references the alchemist whose quest was to transmute base lead into noble silver or gold. That pursuit was also a philosophy and a metaphor for achieving enlightenment, true knowledge and redemption. The Crucible Series is meant to convey the power, inspiration and alchemy of light.
The glazes and colors used in the series signify the heat and light that accompany the crucible process, often from an uncertain or mysterious beginning, The mirrored surfaces invite the observer to ponder and possibly participate in their own quest and discovery. Modern science (which has transmuted lead into gold!) is a new alchemy that aspires to transform our understanding of reality.
Artist Statement: Reliquary Series
The Reliquary vessels are repositories that enshrine transformational revelations attained through a life-changing, crucible experience. The precious metal and colored surfaces reflect the reverence for sacred knowledge and the transmutation from base to noble ideals. The temple-like ancient symbols featured express the iconology and principle of “As above, so below”: the universal correspondence between the macro and micro worlds. While the Crucible Series is about process and experience, the Reliquary Series is about attainment and honoring. The Crucible Series and the Reliquary Series celebrate the alchemy of light.
Previous 20 North Gallery exhibitions including artwork by Tom Marino
- Tenth Year Exhibit: 1993 – 2003: September 26 – October 30, 2003. Click to view exhibit postcard.
- Crosby Preview ’09: The Award Winners of 2008: June 18 – 25, 2009 (in partnership with Crosby Festival of the Arts, Toledo Botanical Garden)
- The Grant Collection: January 12 – March 31, 2018. Click to view exhibit page.
- TFAS100+3: Juried Members’ Exhibit: October 9 – December 26, 2020. Click to view exhibit page.
- The Alchemist’s Dream: Letts, Marino and Muir: October 8 – December 24, 2021. Click to view exhibit page.
- 20 North / 30 Years: April 19 – June 24, 2023. Click to view exhibit page.