Artist Tom Anderson marks milestones with retrospective exhibit at Washington Center

It’s been a big month for artist Tom Anderson: He celebrated his 70th birthday, he’s moving out of his Olympia studio after nearly 50 years of making art downtown, and The Washington Center for the Performing Arts is hosting a retrospective of his work.

“Decades,” open through Nov. 5, showcases the evolution of Anderson’s work from 1989 to 2021 and from copper and aluminum to wood and canvas.

Though it coincides with the artist’s departure from his downtown studio in the building he co-owns with Mansion Glass owner Bill Hillman, the retrospective doesn’t mean Anderson is ready to retire.

“Retirement sort of assumes that you’re leaving behind your career and not doing that anymore,” he told The Olympian. “Being an artist is more of a lifestyle and a mindset.”

He plans to work in a small studio at his home on Summit Lake and is open to continuing to create public art, something that’s been a substantial part of his career. Among his most visible local public works are the Park of the Seven Oars along West Bay Drive and the wood, glass and metal donor walls at Harlequin Productions’ State Theater and at the Washington Center itself.

The latter is part of what makes the retrospective — the first art show at the center since before the pandemic — so significant for both Anderson and the center, said Jill Barnes, the center’s executive director.

“He has a long history with the center and a long history downtown,” she said. “He is a longtime supporter and friend of the center and ticket buyer.”

In fact, Anderson attended Pat Metheny’s show on Sept. 15, the same day “Decades” opened.

“I’ve seen him in concert like five times,” Anderson said. “I’ve probably created more artwork listening to Pat Metheny or Miles Davis than any other musicians. Here I have my retrospective, and Pat Metheny is playing just down the hall.”

He and Hillman opened Mansion Glass in 1973 above Childhood’s End Gallery, 222 Fourth Ave. W., Olympia. In 1990, Anderson stopped making stained glass, turning his focus to graphic design and then to fine art, and in 2006, the two moved into the building at 117 Washington St. NE, which they’ve sold and will be vacating as of Oct. 1.

Serendipity has been a hallmark of Anderson’s career. He began working in stained glass when he graduated from The Evergreen State College, learning as he worked, and it was while working as a teaching assistant to Henry Halem at Pilchuck Glass School in the late ’80s that he changed directions again.

“He felt that I needed to open up,” Anderson said. “I had spent so many years making stained glass in a framework that I wasn’t thinking beyond the frame, metaphorically.”

To give Anderson a taste of a freer expression, Halem joined him in painting with brooms on butcher paper. “It was kinetic,” Anderson said. “It was like a dance.

“It changed my whole perspective on making art,” he said. “It inspired me beyond just doing a craft and coming to work every day.”

Over the decades, Anderson continued to be open to possibilities and to work with what presented itself — from early work in recycled copper and aluminum pieces with the feel of a custom painted automobile to recent pieces depicting colorful horizons in acrylic inks on wood and canvas.

The new work is gentler and more organic, he said. “I’m working with the fluidity of the ink. It’s less about attacking the material — cutting it, hammering it, nailing it.

“The horizon represents possibilities,” he added. “Whenever I go to Hawaii or anywhere with water, I take books, but all I end up doing is staring at the horizon or at moving water. It’s fascinating just looking at the horizon.”

‘Decades’

• What: Tom Anderson, who’s sold his downtown studio, is showing three decades of his art in a solo retrospective at the Washington Center.
• When: On view during shows for ticketed patrons or by appointment through Nov. 5, with appointments available from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. There’s an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1.
• Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia
• More information: https://www.thomasandersonart.com
• Safety protocols: As for all center events, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required to enter.
• Also: Anderson’s work is also part of a group show at Childhood’s End Gallery, 222 Fourth Ave. W., Olympia. The show will be up Oct. 1-Nov. 14.