Tom Reed

Tom Reed

I studied photography at Rutgers University as a Geography student in the ‘70s. Upon graduation I pursued adventure, and became weary of the heavy camera equipment in my backpack, and of lacking access to a darkroom. In Alaska an artist taught me the value of truly seeing what was before me. When my camera was crushed while sailing in the Caribbean, I decided to lighten my backpack and take a zen approach--that is, to pay close attention to the details captured by my eye, and create a mental image that would endure. In that process I began to ask, “Why is this beautiful?”

In 1982, in the cabin I built in Alaska, I followed my creative urges, creating works in pen and ink, acrylic, watercolor, and sculptures in wood. My themes were landscape and wildlife. I also began training in Japanese martial arts.

In 1988 I came to California to pursue aikido, supporting my intense training with my sculpture and design skills. The name of my art is translated as “the way of harmony with the animating force / principle of the universe.” It can be viewed as a study of the harmonization of positive and negative forces.

In 1999 I came to the Mendocino Coast to teach aikido, met Dr. Shozo Sato and became his student. My study of Japanese aesthetics is centered on the Tea Ceremony (chado), including calligraphy (shodo), ink painting (sumi-e), and flower arranging (ikebana). This education has profoundly built upon my visceral understanding of the dynamic forces of positive and negative, entering the realm of active vs. empty space, and, on paper, subject matter vs. black and white spaces. My compositions are influenced by the model of “dominant / sub-dominant / subordinate” as well.

The digital age drew me back to photography, my first love. Naturally, black and white is my genre, now with the artfully placed red “chop.”